Science Education and Advocacy Committee

Report to Executive Board

April 28, 2018

The advocacy half of the Science Education and Advocacy Committee has been particularly busy in the past few months. Trent Garrison agreed to Co-Chair Science Education and Advocacy Committee to help with advocacy side of the committee. The committee was very active during this legislative session, especially since several bills introduced had great effects on science and higher education. HB200, the budget bill which proposed great cuts to education including the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and Kentucky Science and Engineering Fund (SEF), was of particular interest. A Google document was created with important bills so that members could update and comment on the bills. In addition, the committee drafted a letter from KAS expressing concerns about cuts in funding in science and education and sent it to the appropriate legislatures. We sent an email to committee members regarding KAS Twitter information and guidelines to follow when using this account along with a list of email addresses and Twitter handles for representatives. We also encouraged individual members to contact their representatives via phone calls and social media. – Kerrie McDaniel

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House and Senate restored some of the cuts originally proposed by the governor. They overrode the Governor’s veto of HB200 although the final bill does little to raise revenue.

The Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Funds were maintained for both years so the fund still has $2.5 million/yrfor FY 2019 and 2020. The board was reconstituted to combine oversight with State Nature Preserves. As a result, KAS has only one representative on that board and he is Richie Kessler, the current chair. This reconstitution of the board means we are no longer embattled with the Governor’s office over KAS’nominee to that second position. It has been eliminated.

Some other programs were also spared such as theKentucky Center for Mathematics.

EPSCoR was moved out from CPE to the Cabinet for Economic Development. We do not know yet about proposed cuts to the EPSCoR matching funds

– Amanda Fuller

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Here's an excellent summary of how HB200 has changed in its 4 versions. This chart is mostly K-12. The column on the right is the version that passed Monday. Blue means no funding. No charter school funding; SEEK is modestly funded.

HOWEVER, what I'm now looking for is higher education information, but so far haven't been able to find anything comprehensive other than piecing stuff together.

This is what I have come up with by reading the bill and articles referenced below:

- 6.25% cuts over the next 2 years

- Tenured professors can be fired when programs are eliminated (You can thank Chris McDaniel)

- Did not restore $500 million for old buildings

- University Press funding not restored

- Implements a performance-based funding model

According to my count, it restores 18 of the 70 programs eliminated in the original budget (see link below - budget for colleges starts on page 86 and goes to 90):

RESTORED in new version:

EKU - NA

KSU - Land Grant Match

Morehead - Craft Academy

Murray - Breathitt Veterinary Center

NKU - KY Center for Math, conveyance of Property

UK - Vet lab, CAER, Robinson Scholars, Mining Engineering, Center for Entrepreneurship, Debt Service

U of L - Autism Training

WKU - KY Mesonet, Gatton Academy

KCTC - Firefighter Foundation Fund & Training Center, Energy Savings Performance Contracts, Adult Agriculture Program

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REFERENCES:

Actual budget:

Article 1:

Article 2:

Additional information forwarded by Trent:

Abridged BUDGET INFO fromTom Loftus. I have 5 ratings for each item:?????. I hope this helps. I made it public.

Public schools
Funds schools at a base level of $4,000 per student. When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil funding is 16 percent less than it was in 2008.?

Other pluses for schools
Fully funds transportation and employee health insurance costs that Bevin’s budget proposal would have shifted to local school districts; also increases funding for Family Resource and Youth Services Centers and a school safety program. And it gives extra funding to school districts in coal counties to offset declining local revenue from coal-related taxes.?

Some cuts for schools, though
Funding for preschool and extended school services is cut by 6.25 percent. And there is no money at all for textbooks and teacher professional development and a program in Jefferson County aimed at keeping teenage mothers in school.?

Charter schools
The budget does not include a key funding mechanism for charter schools.?

Pensions
Provides about $3.3 billion over two years to fully fund what actuaries say is needed by Kentucky’s public pension plans that are now saddled with about $43 billion in unfunded liabilities.?

Universities
Cuts base university funding by 6.25 percent. But this cut is partly offset by $31 million a year in new funding to be split among universities under a “performance funding” formula.?

University professor tenure
Allows each university board to reduce the faculty, including tenured faculty when the reduction is a result of the board discontinuing or modifying an academic program. Background: Tenured Kentucky professors could be fired under a late addition to the state budget.?

State workers
No raise again?

Program eliminations reversed
Programs that Bevin proposed be eliminated but that got some funding restored in the final budget include: Access to Justice legal aid program for the poor, Kentucky Poison Control Center, Robinson Scholars at UK, Heuser Hearing and Language Academy, Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, the Kentucky Mesonet weather monitoring program and the Capitol Annex cafeteria.?

Program eliminations that stood
University Press of Kentucky and the Kentucky Commission on Women are among programs not funded in the budget, along with about 50 others.?

Health insurance for some retired teachers
The governor’s budget proposal would not have funded health insurance for those teachers who retired since 2010 but are not yet 65 years old and eligible for Medicare. The final budget provides part of this funding and directs that the rest be picked up by Teachers’ Retirement System.?

Raid on Public Employee Health Insurance Fund:
Takes $310 million from this fund to be used to support state spending elsewhere. This fund gets about 84 percent of its money from contributions of government employers and about 16 percent in contributions from public employees and teachers.?

Private Prisons
Removes $38 million that Bevin proposed over the next two years for new private prisons.?

Children in need
Provides funding for a program that pays relatives a monthly stipend for caring for children removed from homes because of abuse or neglect. The budget also funds a separate program to pay relatives who now provide free foster care to children in their temporary custody. And the budget raises reimbursement rates for private child caring agencies like Home of the Innocents or Maryhurst that care for some of the state’s most troubled and severely abused children.?

​​​​​​Some other noteworthy increases
Provides funding Bevin originally proposed to hire more prosecutors and public defenders; Provides funds to hire more social workers and give them raises; provides money for more state police vehicles and rifles.?

Submitted by: Dr. Kerrie McDaniel and Dr. Trent Garrison, Co-Chairs, Science Education and Advocacy Committee with contributions from Amanda Fuller