Local school districts received $34.3 million in federal assistance in 2023

By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy reports that the three school districts in Barren County received roughly $34.3 million in federal assistance in 2023.

This is part of the center’s larger study that found the federal government and the federal Department of Education contribute over $1 billion each year to the commonwealth, which includes $466 million for school meals, $274 million “for kids in high-poverty schools,” $182 million for special education, $42 million for teacher training and $35 million for “student support and academic enrichment.”

Federal grants make up one in seven dollars in Kentucky school district budgets, the report states.

According to the same report, federal funding made up 25 percent of Barren County School District’s budget in 2023, 28 percent of Glasgow Independent Schools and 42 percent of Caverna Independent School’s budget.

In 2025, Barren County Schools received roughly $4.2 million, Glasgow schools got more than $2.4 million and Caverna schools received around $1.1 million from the federal Department of Education.

United States Representative Thomas Massie, who represents Kentucky’s fourth congressional district, filed H.R. 899 with the 119th Congress eliminating the Department of Education by Dec. 31, 2026.

“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” said Rep. Massie in a Jan. 31 press release. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school.”

He first introduced the legislation in 2017 and has reintroduced the one-word bill each year.

Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville, Kentucky’s only Democrat in Congress, said in a statement that eliminating the department “would harm kids across Kentucky, especially the most vulnerable.”