Judge signs plan to set aside $18 million for disputed cuts - JACK BRAMMER, Herald-Leader

Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate signed an agreement Tuesday between Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear to set aside about $18 million that would have gone to Kentucky’s universities and colleges until Wingate rules on the legality of Bevin’s decision to cut their budgets last month. In late March, Bevin cut the state’s appropriation to universities and colleges for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, by $41 million. Bevin said the money would be used to aid the state’s cash-strapped public pension programs. Later, Bevin reduced his 4.5 percent midyear budget cut for universities to 2 percent, releasing more than $23 million to public colleges and universities. He eliminated the budget cut entirely for Kentucky State University, which had warned that it might have to close. The agreed order signed by the judge this week spells out how much of the $17.8 million will be given to each school or returned to the state’s General Fund, depending on how Wingate rules. Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article74016472.html#storylink=cpy http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article74016472.html