The board of Fayette County Public Schools narrowly voted to approve its working budget for its fiscal year Monday night, passing it with a 3-2 vote.
Board chair Tyler Murphy, Penny Christian and Amy Green voted to approve the budget, and members Monica Mundy and Amanda Ferguson voted against.
That comes with the requirement that FCPS Superintendent Demetrus Liggins must raise the budget’s contingency fund to 6%, which has been standard for the district in years past.
The current contingency makes up just under 4% of the total budget. The state requires school districts’ contingencies be at least 2%.
The approved budget removed around $4 million worth of salaries for cut or unfilled positions.
Board chair Tyler Murphy said they’ll continue to review the budget as the fiscal year continues.
“This is an ongoing discussion. This is not going to be a situation where we approve or not approve the working budget tonight and then no one talks about the budget again,” he said.
That comes as the school district is navigating a $16 million budget shortfall amid public outcry. The auditor’s office announced a review of the district’s budget earlier this summer. Budget director Ann Sampson-Grimes filed a lawsuit against FCPS and multiple administrators after being placed on leave.
Three state lawmakers also called for Liggins and Murphy to resign earlier Monday. That includes Rep. Matt Lockett (R-Nicholasville), Sen. Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville) and Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights).
Discussions during the vote involved putting measures in place so to avoid future shortfalls. Finance Director Rodney Jackson said the district spent $15 million from last year’s contingency fund.
“I do think there's some processes that we need to look at differently,” Jackson said.
Members of the community, along with members of the American Federation of Teachers union, asked for transparency during a lengthy public comment period.
Noah Cornett was among those calling for a deeper, forensic audit.
“A forensic audit is more like a detective who is looking for, ‘Okay, well, there's been some accusations. Something seems to not be right here. We're going to go invoice by invoice. We're going to figure out where this money went,’” he explained.
Board members said last week they’d want the external audit to investigate areas that aren’t currently being covered by both the state auditor’s office and the district’s own, internal investigation.
But some community members say they want the scope of an external audit to be as wide as possible. Superintendent Liggins was questioned last week by state lawmakers about the state of the FCPS budget, including questions about excessive spending for travel.
“I am happy to use my taxes to ensure that anyone mismanaging funds be held appropriately accountable,” said resident Kat McClung during the public comment period.
The deadline for Fayette County Public Schools to submit its budget to the Kentucky Department of Education is September 30.
