FRANKFORT — While Kentucky’s policy makers wail about the lack of skilled workers and the inability to meet employers’ need for such workers, the state’s lawmakers have enacted the 10th largest cuts to higher education in the nation since the Great Recession.

Kentucky provides 26.4 percent less in per pupil spending on higher education in 2017 than it did in 2008 at the beginning of the crippling recession, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Economic Policy Priorities.

That translates to a $2,832 reduction for each higher education student in Kentucky, ranking 10th among the 44 states which spend less on higher education in 2017 than they did in 2008.

And while 36 states have begun increasing funding for higher education as they recovered from the recession, Kentucky continued the cuts, even after tax revenues increased to a level above 2008 levels. Despite higher revenue forecasts, the General Assembly went along with Gov. Matt Bevin’s request to cut the state’s public universities and community colleges by 4.5 percent.

At the same time, more and more jobs will require at least some college. According to a study by Georgetown University, by 2020, two-thirds of them will require some college education.

“A large and growing share of future jobs will require college-educated workers,” according to the CEPP study. “Sufficient public investment in higher education to keep quality high and tuition affordable and to provide financial aid to students who need it most would help states develop the skilled and diverse workforce they will need to compete for these jobs.”

But the same lawmakers who frequently complain on the floor of the House or Senate or in legislative committee meetings about the lack of skilled workers to fill readily available skilled jobs aren’t likely to reverse course on higher education funding any time soon.

The state faces large and growing unfunded liabilities in its public pension systems, a budget shortfall in fiscal year 2017 and warnings from Gov. Matt Bevin’s budget director that things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Bevin plans to call a special session this fall to address the pension problems, and he’s also called for tax reform. Of late, however, Bevin has sounded ambiguous about when that might occur or whether he wants such reform to generate additional revenues.

But Kenny Colston, spokesman for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy which works with CEPP, said the state needs tax reform to produce more revenue to support higher education.

“In order to stop Kentucky’s higher education funding slide, lawmakers should clean up the tax code by ending some of the billions of dollars in tax breaks that drain revenue so we have the resources to better invest,” Colston said.

The budget director’s office has estimated those tax breaks and exemptions amount to more than $12 billion each year. Kentucky’s annual state budget is about $10.5 billion.

Since 2008, tuition at Kentucky universities and community colleges has increased by 36.9 percent as schools scrambled to off-set cuts in state funding. That represents about $3,684 more in annual average tuition costs for Kentucky students.

Tuition is increasing faster than family incomes are growing, according to the study. At the same time, most states have shifted student aid funding more to merit than need-based aid programs. The biggest impact of those trends is most likely to be endured by low-income and minority students. Meanwhile, student debt continues to grow.

And while lawmakers talk about the need to utilize community colleges to respond quickly to local employer workforce needs, the cuts forced the Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges System to cut 191 faculty positions, 315 staff jobs and permanently eliminate more than 330 vacant positions.

“This report shows that as the majority of states are re-investing in their futures by committing to funding higher education, Kentucky continues to move in the wrong direction,” Colston said. “Every cut in funding puts pressure on students by resulting in rising tuition costs which price low-income students out of opportunities and forces thousands of others into unmanageable student debt.”

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnhifrankfort.