More budget cuts are coming and this time Kentucky schools won't be spared.
Schools across Kentucky are being told to brace for another round of cuts that could run into the millions of dollars.
The governor says it could be as deep as another 6% this school year.
Already Jefferson County Public Schools has cut $10 million from its budget and it could be much worse if it weren't for money held in reserve and stimulus funds.
But that money is running out.
While students study their lessons, it's a lesson in economic recession schooling administrators.
"The budget cuts depending upon what the state does could range from $2 million at the least up to $17 million," said Governor Beshear.
And Wednesday Kentucky's governor spoke with WHAS11 telling of the reality of more cuts this school year.
“Suffice it to say we are going to have some substantial cuts, I mean this recession continues to affect us."
Programs that could be affected include: reading assistance, resource centers, dropout prevention, technical education as well as programs for gifted and talented.
Jefferson County is leaning on its $80 million reserve, out of that $24 million plus stimulus funds are being used just to make ends meet, more cuts they say could put the school system in dire straits.
"What we are going to do is try our best to not impact the students for this year we have programs in place and we want to do our best to not impact that," he said.
The governor and general assembly have promised that state dollars given to school systems according to student population won't change but that's only 30% of Jefferson County’s budget.
Already cut this year were new text books, supplies, and professional training. The list they say is long and now expected to get longer.
“We've had to cut, cut, and cut but Kentucky families are doing that too and they expect us to do the same thing, " said Cordelia Hardin, CFO of JCPS.
“We very much want to maintain our priorities as much as we can with education, economic development and public safety for our people but it's getting more difficult all the time.”
The governor tells us that he will have the new revenue projections within the next couple weeks and then it's up to each school district to figure out how to make ends meet.
