The Kentucky Council for Better Education (CBE) has released new reports to every public school district in Kentucky, highlighting a clear and ongoing trend: since 2008, the amount of funding going into Kentucky’s education system has not kept up with inflation, resulting in a growing shortfall that affects students and schools across the Commonwealth.
The council says Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) formula is working as designed — it fairly distributes the funding that is provided. However, the issue is not the formula itself; it is the lack of adequate state funding being placed into the formula. These new reports track that shortfall over time, showing how, year after year, funding has fallen further behind what is needed to ensure equitable and sufficient support for every student.
The Back on Track reports released by CBE provide each school district with a customized breakdown of:
• How much additional funding would be needed to reach inflation-adjusted targets
• Funding gaps in base per-student amounts, add-on categories, and transportation
• Total estimated shortfall per student and across the district
According to the data, Kentucky’s current SEEK base guarantee of $4,326 per student would need to exceed $5,743 to match the purchasing power it held in 2008.
The report also indicates transportation is also underfunded, with the state covering just 74% of calculated costs in recent years.
These shortfalls affect core aspects of education — including staffing, class sizes, student services, and transportation — and leave local districts struggling to fill the gap despite increases in local tax contributions.
The Back on Track initiative is part of CBE’s broader effort to equip school districts with clear, data-driven tools to advocate for fully funding SEEK. By providing district-specific data, the reports aim to support local decision-making, raise awareness within communities, and encourage action at the state level.
For more information about the SEEK formula and to explore the full Back on Track campaign, including the statewide summary report and individual district reports, visit www.kycbe.org.
Kentucky Council for Better Education