Speakers at FCPS meeting ask superintendent to leave district amid budget trouble
At least 11 people who spoke at Wednesday’s Fayette County Board of Education meeting asked for Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins’ resignation or firing amid the district’s significant budget problems.
Liggins has been superintendent amid extensive financial issues. The district acknowledged last year it was facing a potential $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. Last month, FCPS announced that because of accounting issues dating back nearly 20 years, FCPS has a much lower fund balance than previously thought.
Liggins has come under increased pressure amid those problems.
“It’s time for you to go,” said Kim Woolum, one of the speakers Wednesday, “You are not wanted here anymore. We want you out of this school district. You are bringing us down.”
More citizens spoke out at the board meeting than usual, both in favor of and opposed to Liggins and other district leaders.
Some, such as former state Rep. Bill Lear, praised Liggins and district officials for hiring Acting Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch and drawing on the experiences of other financial experts in the private sector to fix the district’s budget problems.
“The people that are working the problem are the right people,” said Lear. “They are digging into this.”
Former school board member Ray Daniels just asked the current school board members to solve the district’s finance problems.
“You hold the power,” Daniels said. “We need you to unite this community. We need you guys to present to us a balanced budget that will alleviate the stress of what we’ve been through and set a path forward that we can all believe and trust will work.“
District officials have recently said that finances have been misstated for years and the district has to take a short term loan to cover costs.
Before board members approved a $711 million tentative budget for 2027, Koch told the board that the district would only have to borrow $95 million, down from a previous estimate of $110 million. The board unanimously approved borrowing the money.
FCPS says its contingency fund, or rainy day fund, will meet the state’s requirement of being at least 2% of its total budget.
The budget will be balanced, district officials say, with the anticipated revenue of surplus property being sold. The district will begin exploring the sale of three school campuses to generate cash for the school district and help it balance its books.
The school board voted to approve a recommendation from FCPS administrators to declare three properties surplus, a first step in the possible sale of the properties. One of the most valuable properties may be the former FCPS Central Office property on Main Street, which includes multiple buildings.
The district moved out of that building to the John D. Price building off Russell Cave Road in 2020. That property is a little more than 3.3 acres, according to Fayette County property tax records. It is at a prime location near downtown Lexington.
The addresses for that property include: 701 E. Main St. 709 E. Main St. 128 Walton Ave. 700 Bullock Place. Another property declared surplus Wednesday currently houses the George Washington Carver Academy, which will move to a new location soon. That property is about three acres. The addresses for that property include 115, 117 and 123 E. Sixth St.
The Rise STEM Academy is also scheduled to move to a new location in August 2026. The site is one of the largest the district is considering selling at 11 acres. The address for that property is 2420 Spurr Road. School officials have previously said not all the properties would necessarily be sold.
Declaring the properties surplus means the district can explore next steps before putting a property on the market. Koch has said the preliminary $711 million general fund budget includes $3 million from the potential sale of a property. That’s a conservative estimate on how much the district could generate from the sale of the properties, Koch has said.
The district has used the sale of buildings in the past to generate one-time cash to help it balance its books after discovering earlier this year that its financial information has been misstated for nearly 20 years. In April, the district sold the former Southside Technical Center on Harrodsburg Road for $5.5 million. The proceeds from the sale of that property helped balance the current-year budget.
Board members Monica Mundy and Amanda Ferguson asked for more information on why the district made 120 job and hour cuts.
Koch said there were some numbers in the tentative budget that were “soft,” but she thought the upcoming working budget would be solid.
This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 9:49 PM.
