Staff report

Less than a week after giving district leaders some bad fiscal news, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is offering a slightly better outlook due to new calculations.

In his weekly Fast Five on Friday email update to education leaders, Holliday said the projected SEEK shortfall will be less than the up to $15 million he had shared the previous weekend in a meeting with the KSBA Board of Directors and at the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents winter conference.

“KDE’s Division of District Support is currently receiving and validating data in order to post Final SEEK calculations. However, with the majority of data collected, it is evident that there will be a small SEEK shortfall (less than $10 million) for the current school year (FY15),” the commissioner said in the email.

Holliday cited three factors that are driving the SEEK shortfall:

• Lower than projected property assessments

• A higher than projected Prior Year End-of-Year Adjusted Average Daily Attendance

• Higher than projected Exceptional Child counts in categories of low and moderate incidence

“Although the total SEEK appropriation remains unchanged, districts should anticipate an approximate reduction (of less than 1 percent) in their district SEEK allocations for this year, which will be reflected in the payments for the final quarter (April, May, June),” Holliday said. “Per statute, a shortfall means that there will be no funds available for a January growth adjustment or for adjusted assessments.”

Preliminary revised district SEEK allocations are to be released to districts later today via email. Final SEEK calculations are to be set by March 1.