The Fayette County Board of Education said Monday it has begun contract negotiations with its interim superintendent and approved a redefined, top financial position for the beleaguered school district.
At a planning meeting, school board members unanimously approved the job description of the new director of finance ahead of the July action meeting. The position will be posted as soon as possible, officials said, and replaces two vacant associate director positions.
Acting Superintendent Bill Bradford said the new job will realign duties in Fayette County Public Schools’ Department of Financial Services.
The shift, including the appointment of Bradford to the top post, follows a $16 million budget shortfall in the 2024-25 school year which led to a series of investigations and audits. Ultimately, investigators said they have uncovered nearly two decades of financial mismanagement.
Bradford was appointed to lead FCPS in June after the school board placed Superintendent Demetrus Liggins on leave, a move he is fighting through a series of complaints against the board for violating the Open Meetings Act.
“We're working hard to streamline the work there, but also maintain our internal controls,” interim chief financial officer Kyna Koch said Monday of the new finance position. “We don't want to get to the point that we streamline so much that we lose the internal control.”
In addition to OKing the language for the new post, the board also unanimously approved Chair Tyler Murphy to enter negotiations with Bradford — a move that will include additional compensation.
Under his current title of assistant superintendent, Bradford makes $200,000.21 annually. Liggins makes $393,042.27 annually in base salary, according to the FCPS employee salary database. Bradford’s contract addendum will be subject to board approval.
Later this month, the school board is also set to consider a contract with a new external auditor to meet annual state oversight requirements. The bid for the contract, $125,000, is less than what FCPS planned for in the 2025-26 audit. The district has spent more than $300,000 on audits and investigations into financial mismanagement since last year.
Koch said the firm has not done audits of Kentucky school systems before, but the state Department of Education supports the move.
“When I spoke with the folks at KDE, they were thrilled because we were running kind of short of auditors who want to do school district audits, so all around I think this was a win-win for everyone,” Koch said.
Bradford also gave the board strategic plan updates Monday, including reviewing the grading policy, addressing chronic absenteeism and mentoring new teachers and principals.
He highlighted the strategic plan transparency dashboard for the public to see how the district was meeting its goals.
