C-J notes the education cuts

In the Courier-Journal, Tom Loftus reports on the major losses in key state services under the new budget, with this key information:

And education -- perhaps the state's top priority -- also is taking significant cuts.

Universities will get about 9 percent less in 2012 than the amount originally appropriated for 2008. And, while the base funding program for public schools -- known as Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK -- has held about even, some important support programs for the schools have been slashed.

"These programs to help schools improve are as important as SEEK, if not more important," said Robert Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. "Holding SEEK funding level has become an easy way to say, 'We're not cutting education.' But it's deceptive."