Amid budget crisis, proposed Fayette school budget is $21.4 million less than in May

After a summer of public discontent over the Fayette schools’ financial problems, the 2025-2026 proposed budget that is on Monday night’s school board agenda is $21.4 million less than the tentative budget presented in May.

The total tentative budget revealed in May was $848.6 million, which had a $16 million shortfall.

The proposed working budget on Monday’s agenda is $827.2 million.

School district officials posted online the Monday planning meeting agenda including the proposed budget. The meeting is 5:30 p.m. Monday at the school district Central Office, 450 Park Place.

The proposed budget showed that the beginning balance had dropped from $85.2 million in fiscal year 2024 to $43.2 million in fiscal year 2025 to $26.3 million in the fiscal year that began on July 1.

District spokesperson Miranda Scully said Monday morning that over the course of nine months, school districts in Kentucky follow a very prescriptive financial planning process that requires the development of three different versions of the budget. Each one reflects forecasts and projections based on the information available at the time. It is not unusual to see change as we move from a draft budget document in January to a tentative budget in May and finally to a working budget in September. She said the 2025-26 Tentative Budget, which the board approved in May, included the anticipated revenue from increasing the occupational license tax.

Scully said the proposed 2025-26 Working Budget the board will review this month includes $17 million less in anticipated occupational license tax revenue as well as lower expenditures due to the budgetary reduction measures we have taken.

“ Our team has gone line by line to make cuts at the district level and protect investments in the classroom,” she said.

Scully said a cursory review of the tentative and working budgets over the past four fiscal years, which are publicly posted on the district website, shows the variance has ranged from $462,392 during the 2024-25 fiscal year to $23.5 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Officials on Sunday did not immediately clarify what cuts are included in the proposed budget.

But at a special budget meeting in late August, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins recommended several cost-cutting measures.

The proposed measures to balance the budget, address the shortfall and save a total of $6 million included:

A hiring freeze except for classroom positions and bus drivers to save $2 million.

Restricting overnight trips for professional learning, restricting food for district meetings, not replacing furniture in district offices, no sponsoring tables at community events and no purchasing staff appreciation gifts for total savings of $1 million.

Also on the list: Eliminating the executive coach for Liggins for a savings of $25,000, and reassigning staffing allocations not justified by current student enrollment numbers, saving up to $1.2 million.

Other cuts included implementing an additional $2 million in cuts to district-level departmental budgets; and discontinuing non-traditional instructional days, which will reduce staffing costs. (Savings variable depending on the severity of winter weather.)

At the earlier budget meeting, Liggins asked for school board member’s guidance on whether the district should sell real estate, raise school meal prices or absorb legal costs by using in-house legal staff. Those proposals require approval from school board members.

Based on that feedback, he said he would drop the proposal to increase meal prices.

The Fayette County Public School Board is also expected to vote on its property tax rate at Monday’s school board meeting.

District officials are recommending a decrease of approximately 1.1 cent per $100 of assessed property values. That would be a decrease from 80 cents per $100 of assessed value to 79.8 cents per $100 of value. The projected revenue is estimated at $340,212,439.47, board documents show.

School board member Amanda Ferguson asked that the meeting be live-streamed because of that vote, but district officials did not agree.

This story was originally published September 7, 2025 at 8:54 PM.