Commonwealth of Kentucky — Waiver of the Maintenance of Effort Requirement for Fiscal Year 2023
Summary
A letter dated March 14, 2024 from the Office of the Secretary of the Governor's Executive Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, regarding the Commonwealth of Kentucky Maintenance of Effort Waiver Request. Kentucky requests a waiver of the maintenance of effort requirement for fiscal year 2023 for the percentage of overall state spending for elementary and secondary education. The letter states that there were no fiscal year 2023 reductions in state funding and that per pupil spending in fiscal year 2023 was 8.6 percent higher than the three-year average, $9,507 compared to $8,750. It also states that fiscal year 2022 included a one-time appropriation of $479 million to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System.
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“Commonwealth of Kentucky — Waiver of the Maintenance of Effort Requirement for Fiscal Year 2023.”
Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/ppr-int-2ac3afddf56a2a51-pdf-3efda193f3-6a7888ae6c/
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Andy Beshear GOVERNOR’S EXECUTIVE CABINET John T. Hicks
GOVERNOR
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY SECRETARY
Jacqueline Coleman The State Capitol
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 108
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Phone: (502) 564-2611, ext. 456
Fax: (502) 564-6858
March 14, 2024
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
U.S. Department of Education
RE: Commonwealth of Kentucky Maintenance of Effort Waiver Request
Dear Office of Elementary and Secondary Education:
The Commonwealth of Kentucky respectfully requests a waiver of the maintenance of effort requirement
for fiscal year 2023 for the percentage of overall state spending for elementary and secondary education.
Kentucky has met the maintenance of effort requirements in the three prior fiscal years for elementary and
secondary education, and for all years for higher education.
The Commonwealth’s nominal amount of spending for elementary and secondary education has exceeded
the fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2019 three-year average in all subsequent fiscal years: 2020
through 2023. There were no fiscal year 2023 reductions in state funding for elementary and secondary
education. The need for the waiver is related to the share of spending for elementary and secondary
education in fiscal year 2023 of overall state spending not meeting the three-year average.
Kentucky’s per pupil spending in fiscal year 2023 is 8.6 percent higher than the three-year average:
$9,507 in fiscal year 2023 compared to the three-year average of $8,750. This reflects a continued priority
of elementary and secondary education in Kentucky.
There was an anomalous item in fiscal year 2022, a one-time appropriation of $479 million to the
Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System on behalf of Kentucky’s school districts. Notwithstanding this
one-time spending in fiscal year 2022, total recurring spending for elementary and secondary education
has risen every year over the last three fiscal years, including fiscal year 2023, the year for which this
waiver request applies.
Kentucky has not used any of the ESSER or GEER federal funding to replace or supplant state funding
for elementary and secondary education. All of those resources have been net new resources to K-12
schools.
Even with the increase in spending per pupil in fiscal year 2023 for elementary and secondary education,
the fiscal year 2023 percentage of overall state spending is lower than the three-year average; therefore,
the reason for this waiver request.
GOVERNOR.KY.GOV An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D
Overall state spending in fiscal year 2023 increased substantially due primarily to spending of prior year
surplus funds and higher tax revenues. Recurring spending for elementary and secondary education
increased. Due to the spending of prior year surpluses and higher tax revenues the Kentucky legislature
budgeted a substantial amount of one-time spending, including cash funding capital projects, disaster
relief for two record-level natural disasters, and funding for large economic development projects within
the electric battery manufacturing sector. That spending caused an outsized overall spending amount with
much of the one-time spending targeted to areas other than elementary and secondary education.
Elementary and secondary education has been Kentucky’s largest recipient of state funds for decades and
remains so today.
The table below reflects that both nominal spending and spending per pupil in fiscal year 2023 were
substantially higher than the three-year average.
Kentucky State Support for
Elementary & Secondary FY 2017-FY
Education 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023
Average Actuals Actuals Actuals Actuals
Maintenance of Effort
Percentage of Overall State
Spending 46.24% 46.58% 47.32% 46.22% 39.16%
Waiver Request
Elementary & Secondary
Education Spending $5,219,706,861 $5,412,932,695 $5,429,040,523 $6,022,412,164 $5,618,771,656
Spending in Excess of 3-Year
Average $193,225,834 $209,333,662 $802,705,303 $399,064,795
Pupil Count 596,540 590,989
Spending Per Pupil $8,750 $9,507
Attached is the Commonwealth’s completed Appendix C: MOE Waiver Request form.
Sincerely,
John T. Hicks
Secretary of the Governor’s Executive Cabinet
State Budget Director
Authorized Representative
Attachment
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