HBCU DIGEST: Here's proof of how lawmakers and trustees at Kentucky State are misleading about the school's financial status

Two years ago, the University of Kentucky faced a $70 million budget shortfall, which school leaders attributed to enrollment declines and increased operational costs. Around the same time, the University of Louisville projected that it would be $39 million in the red for similar reasons. 

Less than a year later, the Commonwealth of Kentucky reported a $1.1 billion surplus in its general fund, thanks in part to federal aid for covid recovery that helped to boost business and commerce. Around the same time, Kentucky State University was reporting a positive audit report and a modest $2 million surplus from its 2019-2020 financial activity. 

So how does a state that a year ago had billions in the bank, with its two largest predominantly white institutions crying broke the year before, pass legislation this year to 'bail out' its only public historically Black institution to the tune of $23 million?