A Franklin Circuit Judge has ordered the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin to release nearly $18 million that has been set aside in an escrow account while legal questions about Bevin’s authority to cut current year higher education budgets were answered.
The state’s public universities and colleges are set to recover the money following a recent Kentucky Supreme Court ruling.
The schools should get their respective shares of the funding in about three days, according to an order Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate issued Monday. Lawyers for both Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear, who filed the original challenge to the action to cut university budgets.
Beshear’s lawsuit against Bevin resulted in a 5-2 ruling as the justices decided the governor could not legally order the financial reductions he had imposed on Kentucky’s universities. Bevin decided not request the court to reconsider its decision at the deadline last week.
Kentucky State University was exempted from the 2-percent cuts for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The state’s other schools are expected to receive:
University of Kentucky: $5,592,200
University of Louisville: $2,781,500
Eastern Kentucky University: $1,360,700
Morehead State University: $866,800
Murray State University: $960,500
Northern Kentucky University: $970,800
Western Kentucky University: $1,493,000
Kentucky Community and Technical College System: $3,803,200
Staff report