Former 94th Dist. State Rep. Leslie Combs said she was shocked when the heard about Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s proposed funding cuts in the budget he submitted Tuesday evening, especially with one program she helped establish.
Combs and several other mountain legislators helped author the Kentucky Coal County College Completion Scholarship, or K4CS for short. The program provides college scholarships to students from coal-producing counties working toward bachelors’s degrees. In the governor’s proposed budget, K4CS and numerous other education and healthcare programs have their funding cut for the next two years.
Combs said she recognizes the state’s budget problems, and recognizes that new revenue streams must be found. She added, however, that programs benefitting education and healthcare should not suffer during the budget process.
Combs agreed with Bevin that programs should be evaluated to eliminate waste, but, she said, vital programs that benefit many Kentuckians should not be cut.
Combs said she hopes the state legislature will give serious consideration to the consequences of Bevin’s proposed cuts. She added, though, that Bevin’s proposed cuts could be a ploy to force the legislature to consider tax reform, which she agreed the state badly needs. She said she has no evidence indicating that is the case.
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The list of programs proposed to lose funding, as reported by The Courier-Journal, are as follows:
Health programs:
— ARC of Kentucky (Group that supports people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities)
— Kentucky Lung Cancer Education Awareness Detection Survivorship Collaborative
— Norton Kosair Children’s Hospital Poison Control Center
— Kentucky Colon Cancer Screening Program
— Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program
— Madison County Early Intervention Services
— Trover Clinic
Programs within the Council on Postsecondary Education:
— Lung Cancer Research
— Washington D.C. Internships
— Professional Education Preparation
— Minority Student College Preparation
— Autism Training Center
— Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholars
Programs at the University of Kentucky:
— University Press
— Kentucky Transportation Center
— Center for Entrepreneurship
— Agriculture Public Service
— Hospital Direct Support
— Mining Engineering Scholarships
— Robinson Scholars
Programs at other higher education institutions:
— Community Operations Board at Eastern Kentucky University
— Adult Agriculture at the Community and Technical College System
— Kentucky Coal Academy at the Community and Technical College System
— Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University
— Kentucky Center for Mathematics at Northern Kentucky University
— Kentucky Mesonet at Western Kentucky University
Programs of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority:
— Go Higher
— Work Study scholarships
— Teacher Scholarships
— Early Childhood Development scholarships
Programs within the Department of Education’s “Learning and Results Services” program:
— Instructional Resources (textbooks)
— Professional Development program
— Appalachian Learning Disabled Tutoring Program
— Commonwealth School Improvement Fund
— Community Education program
— Collaborative Center for Literacy Development
— Georgia Chafee Teenage Parent Program
— Leadership and Mentor Fund
— Middle School Academic Center
— Teacher’s Professional Growth Fund
— Teacher Academies Program
— Teacher Recruitment and Retention Program – Educator Quality and Diversity
— Virtual Learning Program
— Writing Program
— Lexington Hearing and Speech Center
— Heuser Hearing and Language Academy
— Teach for America
Other education programs:
— Libraries, Direct Local Aid Non-Construction Aid
— Kentucky Teacher Internships within the Education Professional Standards Board
— Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity Fund
— School Technology in coal counties
— Coal County College Completion Scholarship Program
Other programs throughout state government:
— County Fair Grants in Department of Agriculture
— Farmer’s Market Senior Program in Department of Agriculture
— Family Medical Residency in Owensboro
— State Planning Fund in state budget office
— Area Development Fund in Department for Local Government
— Conservation Districts Local Aid
— State Tree Nurseries
— Environmental Education Council
— Sheriff’s Expense Allowance
— Commission on Women
— Access to Justice
— Life Safety or Closed Jails
— Local Jailers Allowance
— Whitehaven Welcome Center
— Bluegrass State Games
— Frankfort cafeterias operated by Department of Parks
— Insurance subsidy program within Personnel Cabinet
— Arts Council Marketing program
