Fayette County Public Schools officials held a public forum Thursday night to answer questions about the school’s budget.
Last month, district officials announced they had discovered misreported finances going back to at least 2008. Multiple audits of the school system have been taking place after a $16 million shortfall was discovered last year.
District officials spoke for around an hour and a half, answering pre-submitted questions about the state of next fiscal year’s budget, the ongoing audits and a $110 million loan FCPS plans to take out to meet payroll. The format was criticized by some in attendance.
“It's fine to have pre-populated questions, but the answers to those questions, they lead to more questions, right? They need clarifying questions, follow-up questions, and so the public deserves to be able to interact live with district officials,” said FCPS parent Matthew Vied.
According to Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch, FCPS will likely start next fiscal year with a beginning balance of zero.
“Anything above zero is going to be better for us and will fall into our contingency,” she said.
The district has a projected contingency fund of $11.4 million, accounting for the minimum 2% of the total budget required by state law. Koch said any extra money the district can carry forward will reduce the amount of money it will need next summer. She said it’s likely the district will apply for another short-term loan next year.
To help balance the budget, FCPS is cutting 120 positions, along with workdays in some employee calendars. The district says it’s not yet certain how much money those cuts would save.
“I don't have an estimate at this moment, but I can say that these positions, along with other reductions, are used to balance the budget for FY 27,” said Jessica Williams, the district’s Interim Executive Director of Budget and Financial Accounting.
The district is also selling a handful of surplus property, which Williams said will account for an estimated $3 million in revenue.
“The hope is that the value will be much higher,” she said. “However, that is the amount that we needed to balance with, and so that is part of what we've used for projected revenue.”
The budget also includes money for the state audit being conducted, and $1 million toward the district’s legal expenses.
Koch said the district is strengthening its financial guardrails in the meantime. It’s also no longer including catering for staff in the budget.
“We had some setup issues that never should have happened in the district, but we're working hard to make sure that every transaction has at least two people witnessing that transaction, and we will continue to drive forward with changes in processes and procedures that need to occur,” she said.
The district projects a tentative $880 million budget for fiscal year 2027. Much of the budget’s line items, including how much of the proposed $110 million loan the district would actually take out, have still not been finalized.
“The $110 million, we will only use what we need. The problem is right this minute we don't know exactly how much we're going to need until we close the fiscal year,” Koch said.
The FCPS school board will vote on a finalized budget during its Wednesday meeting. The district will send that budget to the Kentucky Department of Education in September.
