The mission of KCTCS is to be a gateway to affordable, high quality postsecondary education. The system maintains an open admissions policy and a robust menu of developmental courses. In addition to industry-specific training leading to portable credentials, the colleges offer a two year academic curriculum designed to transfer to all of Kentucky's four-year institutions.

KCTCS provides education and training in 106 program areas, including offering over 12.280 online courses, leading to associate degrees and certificates. The system is Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training, developing and deploying training for 1,345 companies with 83,321 enrollments in fiscal year 2025.

KCTCS administers the Kentucky Fire Commission.

Policy

The fiscal year 2026 Postsecondary Education Performance Fund distribution in the amount of $25,281,000 is added to KCTCS' base General Fund appropriation in fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

Included in the base General Fund budget is $8,314,600 for KCTCS' Mandated Programs, which includes the following:

• $4,149,800 in each fiscal year for the KCTCS-TRAINS program;
• $1,000,000 in each fiscal year for the Adult Agriculture Education program; and
• $3,164,800 in each fiscal year to support the Commonwealth's Property and Casualty Insurance Fund premium.

Included in KCTCS' Restricted Funds appropriation is $62,806,700 in fiscal year 2027 and $63,596,300 in fiscal year 2028 for the Firefighters Foundation Program Fund, which sustains the annual firefighter incentive payment level of $4,562 per year and the annual volunteer fire department aid payment level of $15,000 per year. Also included in the Firefighters Foundation Program Fund Restricted Fund appropriation is $1,869,900 in each fiscal year for State Fire Rescue Training.

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