Kentucky Attorney General Sues Governor Over Education Cuts

A Kentucky Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the state's governor on Monday following his action to cut the budget funding for state schools without the approval of the legislation. 

According to WBIR News, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued Republican Governor Matt Bevin after the latter ordered the cutting of budget for education without the legislative approval. The governor has previously proposed $650 million in spending cuts over the next two years for paying down the Kentucky's public pension debt which is being estimated to more than $30 billion. The governor included that there will be a 4.5 % reduction or $41 million for the state's colleges and universities in the last three months of the fiscal year.

ABC News reported that Beshear has filed the suit in Franklin County Circuit Court as his answer to the governor's 'unconstitutional and illegal order.' He hopes that the judge will release the funding for the schools and requests for an expedited court review. Meanwhile, Bevin's spokeswoman said that the office strongly disagrees with the Attorney general and will respond as necessary in court.

According to Beshear, the governor's action violated the state Constitution's separate of powers provision and state laws for conditions regarding cutting budget. Beshear said "I do not take any joy or satisfaction out of this action. Over the last seven days, it was my hope that the governor would listen to reason, comply with the law and rescind his order. He did not."

Reuters wrote that the presidents of University of Kentucky, Morehead State University and other schools have responded to Bevin on Friday, saying that they are prepared to stomach cutting funds. They are trusting on the governor that he will be able to commit new investments in higher education for the year 2019-2020.

This is not the first time an Attorney general has filed a suit against a Republican governor as there is one in 2004 which was won by the former.

Tags

Kentucky, Governor, Matt Bevin, attorney general, Republican, Democrat, Education, Finance

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