Senate President David L. Williams
DATE: 5/01/02
Senate Budget Plan Provides Full Funding of Family Resources & Youth Services Centers Across Kentucky
(Frankfort)- Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams (R-Burkesville) is pleased to announce that the Senate version of the budget contains $1.8 million in funding for the Family Resources and Youth Services Centers (FRYSCs) across the state. “These centers help the overall family unit,” said Senator Williams. “By helping the family, we help children—and their parents—focus more of their attention on education and the importance of doing well in school.”
The Senator went on to say “by funding these centers, the effected families and communities receive assistance in removing barriers to their student’s achievement,” The centers are a valuable tool for schools to deal with the nonacademic needs of children and their families.”
The FRYSCs program provides a professional staff to coordinate resources for the individual schools to address identified achievement barriers. The approximately $1.8 million in funding will fully fund all eligible centers, as requested by the Kentucky Department of Education, and will open 17 new centers to serve an additional 20 schools.
“The additional centers will benefit more communities across Kentucky,” added Senator Williams. “Any additional funding we can provide to help educate our commonwealth’s children is a necessary expense.”
One positive that’s come out of the budget impasse in Frankfort is that
overall spending for education has increased by more than $100 million
dollars. “Every time they found taxpayer money to finance political
campaigns, we shifted that money over to education,” concluded Senator
Williams. “Education is our top priority in the Senate—not taxpayer
funding of political campaigns. The money we’ve allocated for these
new Family Resources and Youth Services Centers is another example of our
desire in the Senate to improve all aspects of education.”