FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Senate committee signed off on a measure to replace the entire Kentucky State University board of regents by the beginning of next month.

The vote was unanimous as the Senate Education Committee passed Senate Bill 265 late Monday night. Sen. David Givens (R-Greensburg), the Senate GOP’s second-in-command, sponsors the bill.

“This piece of legislation reconstructs the board,” he said. “It’s the first step; it’s not the last step.”

Financial problems at Kentucky State have been building for years, amounting to a $23 million shortfall that lawmakers plan on addressing this session with a separate bill in the House.

That bill, House Bill 250, also includes more state oversight over KSU, requiring the university to develop a plan to become more financially stable over the next three years with the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE).

Givens said the university needs to turn things around or risk closure.

“I stand with you today to say we’ve got to make this shine,” he said. “But if we do everything we can do within our power and we fail, we’ll have to close the doors.”

Sen. Gerald Neal (D-Louisville) said the problem stems from years of underfunding at the state level, and urged Republican leaders to invest more.

“You take a little institution that’s been compromised by this General Assembly, historically, and then we’re going to put it in a vice? No, I don’t agree to that,” Neal said. “What I do agree to is you and me and others working together, in good faith, to do all that we can so this university can prevail and thrive.”

Neal pressed Givens during Monday’s committee testimony about a commitment to help the university with more funding outside of the state’s performance-based funding model, which Neal said hurts the university.

“My commitment to you is real and genuine: the commitment to dollars, the commitment to time, the commitment to opportunity for this institution,” Givens said. “But I’m also going to be committed to the taxpayers and the students.”

According to the university’s website, Kentucky State University has a six-year graduation rate of 30% – a rate that has climbed in recent years but still falls below the average graduation rate for all Kentucky public universities, which stands at 56.4% according to the CPE.

Lawmakers also noted during testimony that the bill isn’t an indictment of the entire board and some are eligible to come back if they are nominated again. The bill requires the Governor's Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee to recommend 16 nominees to Gov. Andy Beshear, who would then select eight nominees by April 1, subject to approval by senators.

The $23 million loan to Kentucky State University cleared the House last month but hasn’t been scheduled for a committee vote yet in the Senate, although Givens said that’ll happen soon.

Senate Bill 265, could hit the Senate floor as early as Tuesday afternoon.