We need more answers about our schools. Without them, FCPS leadership must go. | Opinion

Fayette County Superintendent Demetrus Liggins and the Fayette County school board agreed Thursday night to drop the idea of raising the occupational licensing tax to raise revenue for a budget beset by inflationary pressures and federal funding cuts.

This was a prudent move. There was little appetite from either business leaders or the public for higher taxes, particularly when so many questions remain about Fayette County’s financial status.

While Liggins has pledged to do better with communications and transparency, we believe there are several questions that must be answered to regain the public’s trust and convince them the current appointed and elected leadership should stay in their jobs.

Fayette County Public Schools belongs to the taxpayers, residents, students and parents of the greater Lexington community. It’s not a fiefdom for the superintendent, district officials or even school board members. The public deserves to know the inner workings of our nearly $1 billion public school system.

1. How did we get here?

While the public understands it’s a challenging time for school districts everywhere, particularly in the face of federal funding, we need to understand in more detail about the budgetary process.

Who made the original budget forecasts? Who decided to spend down the contingency fund without the required board approval? Who decided to push through the payroll tax idea in such a hurried and secretive way?

The whistleblower complaint from budget director Ann Sampson Grimes raises troubling questions about how administrators handled her claims that budget cuts were needed. We need a full explanation of her complaint and whether her allegations are correct.

Why did the district pull together a time-consuming work group, then ignore its suggestions? Why did it take them so long to come clean on the fact that the work group’s main suggestion — using the contingency fund to pay down debt — was not possible because the money was no longer there?

2. Can the district prove it’s willing to communicate openly and provide transparency?

During the past year, the Herald-Leader staff and members of the public have repeatedly asked for clarity regarding budget matters. At first, administrators refused to let us speak to principals or budget experts about the district’s finances.

Liggins has repeatedly pledged to do better. However, this week, Herald-Leader attorney Michael Abate had to send a letter to district officials about a Kentucky Open Records request made by reporter Valarie Honeycutt Spears on budget and staffing issues that has gone unfulfilled.

She submitted the requests on Aug. 15. Under the Open Records Act, the district was required to respond to those requests with responsive records by Aug. 22. Instead, on that date, “You unilaterally extended your deadline to respond to the requests, in some cases by up to 30 days,” Abate wrote.

That move was “improper,” Abate added, and a violation of the state’s Open Records Act.

The Herald-Leader is not alone in being stiffed when it comes to public information. Board member Amanda Ferguson said she has frequently been denied information, and at one point, was required to fill out her own open records request to her employees.

In another example, Liggins insists he has made cuts at central office. Ferguson and Mundy, along with others, have requested actual information about those people’s names and salaries, but so far it has been unavailable.

They have also refused to answer questions about the Grimes complaint.

As we move forward with budget cuts, the public needs to understand exactly what is being trimmed and why.

3. Where is leadership from board members?

For a year now, the public has asked questions, and board leadership has ignored them. Instead of pushing their employees to do better, board chair Tyler Murphy has written post after post on social media questioning the motives of the questioners and calling media coverage “misinformation.”

The misinformation is coming from inside the building. And if Murphy is not willing to confront that problem, then vice-chair Amy Green and member Penny Christian should join their peers Amanda Ferguson and Monica Mundy to get a voting majority for accountability.

Most people, particularly public school parents, want our schools to succeed. But taxpayer-funded operations have a high standard in explaining to those supporters exactly what they are spending and why.

4. Why is this so hard?

Other school districts are facing the same kind of economic problems. Jefferson County announced it’s facing a $100 million shortfall and ways they will have to cut to solve it. As Mundy remarked at a recent meeting, the Louisville district “ripped the Band-Aid off,” and the public understands what is happening.

In Fayette County, for example, we were surprised by a $16 million shortfall earlier this summer. We were surprised by the last-minute announcement of the payroll tax. And we were surprised the $42 million contingency fund was spent down.

There is a level of deceit in aid of hiding unpalatable truths that has no place in a taxpayer-funded institution.

Fayette County school board members must face their own reckoning or reward in their next elections. But in the meantime, they need to represent voters and their concerns, not protect the superintendent and his staff from the folly of their own making.

Such behavior from both board members and administrators is eroding Fayette County’s traditionally strong support in its schools. Public education is a sacred trust; there is nothing more important to our community’s future.

If the people in charge can’t do better, then they must go.

This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 1:20 PM.