FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – During a virtual meeting with school superintendents affected by the eastern Kentucky flooding on Thursday, Education Commissioner Jason Glass told them the Department of Education is compiling list of their needs for a possible special legislative session next month.
Glass was told that a primary concern for impacted districts is the loss of enrollment due to the damage sustained by students’ homes and the loss of funding that will result.
“I’m concerned if we have students that don’t return, just the number of teachers I’m going to have to lay off at the end of this school year that are great,” said Perry County Superintendent Jonathan Jett. “We’ve got a lot of really great young teachers that I hate to see leave because with the teacher shortage, if they can go somewhere to get a job, it will be hard to get them back. It will be hard to recruit them back.”
Dawson Springs Independent Superintendent Leonard Whalen, whose community in western Kentucky was impacted by the tornado outbreak last December, said he hopes that future legislation will allow for more flexibility regarding enrollment and tax stabilization.
During a 2021 special session, lawmakers passed legislation allowing districts to use previous attendance data from either the 2018-2019 or the 2019-2020 school years to calculate the average daily attendance that will be used in calculating SEEK funds and any other state funding based in whole or in part on average daily attendance for the district for the 2021-2022 school year.
The allowance originally was made due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will permit continued funding on this basis only through the 2022-2023 school year. After that, SEEK funding for the 2023-2024 school year will be based upon 2022-2023 average daily attendance.
Whalen says he hopes for an extended freeze on the SEEK formula and to allow districts in both western and eastern Kentucky at least five years to stabilize their communities.
“It’s going to take that for your communities to build back up,” he said.
Associate Commissioner Robin Kinney said KDE is recommending legislative language to help both western Kentucky districts impacted by tornadoes and eastern Kentucky districts impacted by flooding, but recommendations for loss of enrollment may not be considered until the 2023 regular session.
Other requests to the General Assembly by the department on behalf of impacted districts will include: a waiver for student attendance days, a proposal for remote and hybrid learning options, provisions for district facilities issues that relate to processes of where and how districts administer building repairs and construction and emergency days for affected staff.
A number of districts have had to delay the start of classes, but Letcher County, which had major damage to six buildings, has no date for the school year to begin.
Read More: Department of Education fields the concerns of districts impacted by flooding | News