FCPS superintendent ‘failed’ to follow multiple policies amid budget issues, report says

An attorney hired by the Fayette County School Board to investigate Superintendent Demetrus Liggins’ role in tending to district finances found multiple policy violations by the superintendent, according to a report provided Monday.

The report found that Liggins failed to comply with two policy obligations, as well as board governance, while the district faced a budget crisis. The district acknowledged last year it was facing a $16 million budget shortfall, and a contingency fund that was expected to be big enough to fill that gap actually held much less money than expected, district officials said in August last year.

The report, filed by attorney Leigh Latherow and provided to media Monday, said there “was sufficient information to find that Dr. Liggins failed to comply with the obligations of him set forth in Policy 02.12 (Administration: Duties of Superintendent), Board Policy 04.1 (Budget Planning and Adoption), and the School Board Governance Manual.”

The report said Liggins should have looked deeper into the district’s financial situation by at least May 2025, which is when school board members first discussed the $16 million budget gap during a meeting. The report also said Liggins did not have an effective budgeting process in place to monitor expenses and how they affected the district’s budget. The report also said Liggins didn’t have the personnel and systems needed in place to either avoid financial issues or alert him to those issues.

Latherow’s report said that given the budget issues the district faced, Liggins should have taken “affirmative steps to investigate district finances sooner, request additional information, and verify the accuracy of the financial data and information provided to the Board,” which Latherow says was not done.

Board will determine ‘corrective action’

School Board Chair Tyler Murphy acknowledged the investigation results in a statement Monday.

“The Fayette County Board of Education and the parties have received the report from Leigh Latherow of VanAntwerp Attorneys, LLP and will carefully review her findings,” Murphy said. “This investigation was authorized by the Board at its September 16, 2025 special meeting.”

Murphy said they released the report to uphold “our ongoing commitment to transparency and open communication with our community,” and said more updates would be provided during a Monday school board meeting.

After Monday’s meeting, Murphy added that the investigation was “thorough.”

He said the board will carefully consider the findings and “anticipates making a determination on appropriate corrective measures in the coming weeks.”

“Meeting this goal is not just about what happens in the classroom but how the resources entrusted to the school district are managed,” Murphy said.

Murphy made the updated comments after the board spent nearly an hour and a half in closed executive session.

Board member Amanda Ferguson told Herald-Leader reporting partner WKYT in a statement that these issues were “extremely concerning.”

“The superintendent’s policy violations outlined in this report are extremely concerning and have clearly contributed to the challenges I experienced in my board service over the last several years,” Ferguson said. “The board will need to address how these infractions might affect the superintendent’s employment with the district.”

What’s in the report?

Latherow, of Ashland, conducted an independent investigation of allegations of wrongdoing raised by Fayette Budget Director Ann Sampson-Grimes as to the Fayette County School Superintendent Demetrius Liggins.

The purpose of the investigation was to engage in a fact-finding inquiry and to assess whether evidence substantiated a finding of violation of Board policies or procedures by Liggins.

In Latherow’s report, they said there was sufficient evidence that Liggins failed to fully comply with requirements set in board policies. Liggins did not keep the board of education properly informed of FCPS’ budget issues and didn’t provide proper oversight regarding the district finance and budget departments’ budgeting, expense oversight, fund balances, contingency tracking and forecasting.

But Liggins did not withhold information on purpose and accusations of discrimination were not substantiated, Latherow says.

“I did not find that Dr. Liggins intentionally withheld Fund Balance/Contingency information from the Board,” Latherow wrote in the report. “My investigation did not substantiate that Ms. Grimes was prohibited based upon actual or implied threat of reprisal from Dr. Liggins from reporting to the Board or others important financial information available to her with regard to the budget, revenue, expenditures, and potential contingency issues.

“Finally, my investigation did not substantiate Ms. Grimes’ allegations of sex and age discrimination.”

Grimes had previously accused the district of discrimination amid these budget issues, and was a central figure when concerns came to light. Grimes said she warned her superiors in the district about problems and was put on administrative leave in retaliation.

Grimes has sued the district. She returned from administrative leave in September.

Brandon Voelker, an attorney for Grimes, told the Herald-Leader that the investigation by Latherow “was nothing more than further political coverup, misrepresentation by the District.” Voelker said Grimes did not agree to meet with Latherow for the investigation.

“Ms. Latherow seeks to impugn my client’s integrity because we did not sit for a meeting with her, Voelker said. “Her report and extensive steps to overlook Superintendent Liggins and his team’s failures, establishes that the investigation was not a true investigation, but rather further evidence of the Board and District’s public relations agenda.”

Latherow also said in the report that while the district’s budget has faced issues, Liggins has implemented some changes to improve communications between the budget and finance departments, strengthening forecasting and budgeting processes for the district. Latherow also said better information is being provided to the board about the district’s finances.

Fayette superintendent responds

In a statement Monday, Liggins said the report confirmed what he had already shared with the community: “As superintendent, I relied too heavily on the leaders and teams working in the area of budget and finance every day when I should have been asking sharper questions and demanding more comprehensive detail.”

“As superintendent, the buck stops with me,” Liggins said. “It is my responsibility to ensure the fiscal health of the district and stewardship of the dollars our taxpayers invest in the education of our children. The obligations I owe to the members of the Fayette County Board of Education, and to our students, staff, families, and community are spelled out in board policy, and I regret that I was not more hands-on in the day-to-day operations of budget and finance.”

Liggins said he combined the finance and budget departments, and assumed direct oversight of those departments.

“Over the past six months, I have sought to identify areas of weakness and taken decisive action to strengthen internal communication, oversight, and reporting,” Liggins said. “Additional structural changes are forthcoming to further reinforce openness and accountability.”

Liggins also said the district’s budget is balanced with a $27 million contingency fund, and he is “confident in the direction we are headed and ... fully committed to continuous improvement on behalf of our students, staff, and families.”

“When we fall short, true leaders accept responsibility, take ownership of the challenge, and choose action over deflection,” Liggins said. “Today is one of those days.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 4:16 PM.