Written By the Kentucky State University Newsroom,
The Kentucky State University Board of Regents received a finance assessment from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) during its special-called meeting Oct. 19.
One of the key takeaways from the assessment indicated that Kentucky State began accumulating significant operating deficits from 2019 from forward that have resulted in the depletion of Kentucky State’s cash reserves. According to the assessment, the current structural deficit is unsustainable.
Another key takeaway of the assessment indicated poor administrative leadership over financial management, which included inadequate budgetary controls, inadequate internal and external financial reporting and inadequate internal audit function.
As a positive, Kentucky State compared very favorably to its peers in state appropriations, government grants and contracts, as well as tuition and fee revenue per student.
CPE recommended a total budget request to cover the fiscal year 2022 projected cash shortfall of $23 million and $1 million each year for the 2022-2o24 Biennium Strategic Initiatives.
An outline of the upcoming management and improvement plan included cataloging and review of University policies and procedures; guidelines for salary ranges; board member training and development; organizational structure and development of human infrastructure; academic offerings; accounting and financial reporting systems; and student success and enrollment management strategies.
“When you have leadership that does not comply, it doesn’t matter how many policies you have in place or how many times you have revised, adopted or modified those policies if leadership is not going to follow them” Board chairperson Dr. Elaine Farris said. “The disappointment of this board is that we had leadership in place that chose to provide the board inadequate financial information.”
