FCPS School Board Action Meeting - 9/22/25

001Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] I feel [Music] hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Natal. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Down. [Music] Do you feel [Music] Uhoh. Whoa. [Music] W. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] up the world. Pap [Music] up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up papa w pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap papa wall pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up pap up the wall up wall [Music] of the world. Up the wall, of the world. [Music] Good evening. >> Amanda Ferguson, >> present. >> Amy Green, >> present. >> Tyler Murphy, >> present. >> Penny Christian, >> present. >> Monica Mundy, >> present. >> Thank you,

002Mr. Jackson. I'd like to welcome everyone joining us for tonight's meeting both in person and on our broadcast. Our next item on the agenda, board vice chair Amy Green will lead us through the observation of the moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance and the reading of our district mission statement. Board member Green. >> Thank you, Chair Murphy. Good evening, everyone. Tonight, we would like to acknowledge the tragic death of Benjamin Ramirez Rodriguez, an 18-year-old junior at Brian Station High School who had also attended Winburn Middle School. Our hearts remain with his family, friends, and all of those touched by his passing. Please join me in a moment of silence. Now you may join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and

003to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. The mission of Fyet County Public Schools is to create a collaborative community that ensures all students achieve at high levels and graduate prepared to excel in a global society. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Green. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. Is there a motion? >> I move we adopt tonight's agenda. >> Motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer Christian. All in favor of adopting the agenda, please say I. I. I. I. Motion carries 5-0. We like to open our schoolboard meeting celebrating our talented students and high quality arts instruction. So, at this time, I'd like to invite FCPS fine arts instructional specialist David Fonda

004to come forward and introduce tonight's performance spotlight. Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Ligins, and guest. My name is David Fonda and I am an instructional specialist with the office of acade academic services fine arts department. A little bit nervous. Um our fine arts director Katherine Lawer is across town representing us at an exciting event that I will speak about momentarily. Tonight we are featuring a collaboration between three of our FCPS high school choirs and the American Spiritual Ensemble that took place March 20th of this year at Transennsylvania University. Those uh high schools are Brian Station, Lafayette, and Paul Orange Stumbar. Dr. Everett McCorvy, director of University of Kentucky Opera Theater, invited our students to a coral workshop to learn more about the uniquely American Spiritual Music Tradition. Students were treated to a performance

005by the American Spiritual Ensemble, were able to rehearse in sectionals with Dr. McCorvy and other members of ASSE and were able to sing in a combined ensemble that you'll see highlighted in the upcoming video. This collaboration led to an idea that is taking place at UK's Singleary Center as we speak. For the first time, the inaugural FCPS All City Choir, composed of students from all six A1 high schools, as well as the Learning Center, are performing with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, Uniting Voices Lexington, and members of the American Spiritual Ensemble. As part of the city's first sacred music festival and as a 250 Lex sponsored event, our goal was to engage 250 high school musicians. We are excited to announce that there are currently 275 students performing Vivaldi's Gloria together at this very moment.

006Our students rehearsed all day and I was impressed by their professionalism, preparation, and their friendliness toward each other. We hope to make collaborations such as this a tradition within Fyet County Public Schools. Please enjoy a glimpse into the seed that started this historic collaboration. Thank you for your support of our music programs. >> Two. >> So, the American Spiritual Ensemble is a group that I started 30 years ago and the mission of the group is to keep the American Negro spirituals alive. These were the songs that were created by an enslaved people. Now, we have over 3,000 documented spirituals that have been written down. >> This is art music and this is American folk music. It's for all people, all races. >> Being able to have experiences with other people who also love to sing.

007It's one of the most unifying uh satisfying things that you can do. >> You get to work with people that like doing the same thing you do, but like also different. and the learning styles are different. The singing styles are different. It's just like cool to see it all come together and like make something beautiful. >> Having the experience to work with other kids to, you know, listen to their individual voices because every voice is different. >> It's joyful for me to do workshop performances like we've done here at Transennsylvania University with the Faget County uh school kids. It's very exciting because I want to first share the stories of this music. I think it's a great way to learn a different genre of music cuz it's like more exposure to the music world and

008it's also a great way to like see other talented music people from around the world. >> Experiences with like working with the American Spiritual Ensemble help us uh expand outside of the norm of what we would normally do and just really grow as singers. It takes what you already know about chorus and about like singing in general and it expands it into more of what it's like worldwide. You get to see that experience come out of the classroom. >> I think it's important for students to have opportunities like this. I know that there are a lot of gifted students who get up every day looking forward to going to school where they can be able to practice. you know, working with the American Spiritual Ensemble will really open our eyes to different education that we

009can receive through choir and just shows how choir is more than just, you know, singing in an art form, but it's also a lesson for education as well. >> You also just get to learn and be dedicated to what you love to do. You have different kinds of music that just makes you work in different ways, like use your mind in different ways. It's really nice just not being able to do music but learn along the way. >> I love the fact that they want to sing these spirituals. They want to learn the stories about the spirituals. I was in this auditorium that was filled with all of these very talented school kids with their voices coming towards me and they were singing with such joy. I was inside wishing that every person in Fed

010County could be right where I was so that they could hear the beauty that these kids were sharing with me through their voices. It was just a tremendous experience. >> That's great. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Fonda. On a point of personal privilege, I've had the opportunity to see the American Spiritual Ensemble perform many times uh in person. Uh they consider um uh the church I attend their home church and we'll will be uh graced with their presence this coming Sunday. Uh but to see them work with our students here in Fate County is incredible because there's so much talent in that group. Of course, Dr. Ever McCorvy is a gem to our community and our public schools and does incredible work. So, for him to take the time uh to work with our students in

011this way and you know, we saw this in the um the district-wide musical that we've done the past two years and now this with the all city chorus. Uh it's going to be incredible. And so, if I wasn't here tonight, uh I would be at the Singleary Center uh and watching those incredible talents perform. So, thank you. Thank you for that. >> At this time, I'll turn the agenda over to Superintendent Ligins for the superintendent's report. >> Thank you again, and thank you, Mr. Fonda. I know you were a little nervous, but you did a great job. Uh, I'd also like to add my welcome to all those joining us tonight in person and, uh, many of you that are joining us watching online. Uh, first on our superintendent report is the recognition of the

012September's Kid Champion Award. At this time, I'd like to ask Tracy Bruno to lead in our celebration. >> Good evening, Dr. Ligans and board members. We're excited to start a whole new round of kids champions this year. We're excited to continue our partnership with Fort Bank as well, the proud sponsor of the FCPS Kids Champion Awards. Thanks to their generous support, each monthly honore receives a monetary prize in recognition of their outstanding contributions to our students and our schools. We are also grateful for the generous donation from Lex Live this month. This month this month, excuse me, which helps us honor these incredible champions. This month, we are thrilled to celebrate Shaylin Duvall, a dedicated MSD teacher at Triek High School as September's kids champion. Miss Duval's unwavering commitment, compassion, and willingness to go above

013and beyond make her an invaluable member of the FCPS family. Her nominated nominator shared the following. Miss Duval has been my son Jaylen's teacher since January 2022. She has done nothing but give her all to her students. She has developed ways to be to better serve her students and has shared those skills with other MSD teachers. She she has also helped one helped another one of my sons by advocating for him and she does the same for many other students. She wants her students to feel included and shows incredible empathy. She truly treats our kids as her own. She communicates effectively with me as we've developed a friendship beyond the classroom. I've never seen her without a smile. She even encouraged me to apply for a position as a parah, which has been the best

014decision I've ever made. I appreciate this woman beyond words. Please join us in celebrating Miss Duvall's incredible impact. We invite you to watch this special video by the FCPS creative media highlighting her story and the difference she makes each and every day. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] You are this month's kid champion. So, thank you for all you do for our kids. That is >> obviously greatly appreciated and I for one am grateful for all of you as well. And so, this is also for you. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> I heard this is a pretty big year for you for several reasons. So congratulations and congratulations and congratulations. So yes, >> she is absolutely deserving of this award. She's loyal. She's an advocate. She's passionate and compassionate about her kids. >> Students love her. I mean,

015every day she shows up with a smile on her face, great personality, um does anything and everything that she can for them and is the, you know, number one support person in their lives. She helps um like um with uh our classroom, Miss Shelton's classroom, and um like taking a um break to uh talk to us. >> I can say without a doubt, she always has a smile on her face. She comes in here every single day ready to support our students no matter what comes at her during the school day. Um she just always is just a positive presence for us. I felt very surprised and a little anxious cuz it was a lot of people but but really excited as well. I teach a very small group of kids and so it meant

016a lot for sure. I just love the kids with my whole heart and um just thankful to be here every day with them. >> Mr. Ball is awesome. >> Miss Duval is sunshine. >> She looks like a goddess. >> It's kind of natural for our students to get overlooked in a big school community. We're 1% of the population. And so naturally, we get overlooked sometimes, but she's not going to let that happen. She's going to make sure that her students are taken care of, that they're developing. She works so well with parents that champion those needs. I can't think of someone that is more deserving of this award. >> My name is Shayon Duvall and I'm a kids champion. Miss Duval could not be with us tonight, but we appreciate her dedication and service to

017our students and community. We want to tell her congratulations. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bruno. Thank you, board. And um again, Shaylin, wherever you are, congratulations. Welldeserved recognition. Um next on the superintendent report, I'd like to invite our director of professional learning, Jesse Matil, to come forward and share the first quarter professional learning update. Mr. Patill. Matil. Good evening uh board Dr. Leens. I'm excited to share our uh professional learning quarter 1 report this evening. Uh we'll start with our alignment to the portrait of a graduate. Um specifically future and life ready and lifelong learner components. Uh for future and life ready uh we look at collaborative and cooperative uh processes such as dialogical protocols or collaborative structures for lifelong learner. Uh we have not knowledge and skills across experiences. This an example of this

018would be cross-curricular integration or writing strategies across the curriculum for strate strategic priorities. We know we're aligned with all five, but I want to hone in today on student achievement and organiz organizational health and effectiveness. For student achievement, uh most of this is centered around our high quality instructional resource work or HQIR uh work with our curriculum. uh and also uh our expansion of the number of days for teacher professional development which I'll talk a little more about in this presentation. For organizational health and effectiveness, we have uh continuous improvement, a true culture of continuous improvement that's represented in our administrator professional learning, our uh professional learning summit, and the associated ongoing learning throughout the school year. But it's also represented at a micro level with our PLC's uh with our grade level teams and

019also our coaching cycles to support individual teachers. We have had the same focus areas for the past three uh years that but we have gone in more depth uh and more explicitly with the support for these folky. So for PLC's we have backward planning for assessment. We're striving for a balanced assessment system uh for accelerated learning. Uh the first step toward that is standardsbased instruction with our HQIR uh but also those opportunities for accelerated learning. And based on House Bill 190, also an expansion of that advanced coursework opportunity for for culture and climate, we are honed in on our uh work with our two-way communication this year. for our continuous improvement cycle. It all the strategic plan is our driver. Uh the CIP or our comprehensive district improvement plan then establishes goals for our work.

020Our district professional learning plan is designed to actualize those goals. We are currently in the implementation and monitoring phase in quarter 1. Why professional learning matters? Research shows highquality professional learning strengthens teachers instruction and ultimately improves student outcomes. Professional learning is embedded throughout this organization and it is ongoing. It is truly part of the fabric of our daily operation. Uh now more specifically going into our professional learning update. We are in phase three uh with our professional learning networks that initiated with our administrator professional learning uh where we supported all of our school leadership teams. We also uh went went through our third annual FCPS professional learning summit in August supporting all role groups in our district. Our district is very fortunate. We have eight professional learning days. That is two times the minimum amount

021of annual professional learning required by law. Uh one of those days is district directed. The rest are school-based professional learning opportunities. There are a multitude of opportunities available to our FCPS staff. I'm going to hone in on three today. District and schoolled professional learning days and uh our newly activated professional learning networks. We'll start with the administrator professional learning conference. So based off feedback uh from from multiple uh avenues um which I can describe more thoroughly if needed but uh we really honed in on the need for HQIR support uh through a principal and school leader lens. Also uh the need for two-way communication given our new platform for that communication. Uh in addition to these offerings, we had 49 sessions that we offered over the two days of learning um school teams also had

022an opportunity to uh kind of decipher their learning, share their learning, and uh make adaptations and continue planning for school-based professional learning. Some examples of professional learning leading to our uh desired outcomes for quarter 1. The first one's very dynamic. uh this is national level learning that actually activated sustainable learning in our district. Uh so we had several members of our team attend the association for supervision and curriculum and also the learning forward conference. That learning ultimately culminated uh and we developed ongoing learning for this uh school year for our entire academic services team uh for our coaches, our specialists and our directors all learning together around this research and evidence space. We believe teachers deserve equitable access to high level coaching. Uh at a state level, we have our Kentucky shape state conference which

023uh was held at Tates Creek High School. Uh what's great about this again sustainable the the teachers from our district who attended will now be leading professional learning uh network sessions using what they learned in that opportunity. Finally, fine arts professional learning hub. This was a very unique space for collaboration for both FCPS educators uh educators from other districts, our university partners and also our nonprofit organizations. It also opened an entrepreneurial uh opportunity for registration fees. Many were interested in attending from outside our organization and you can see the strategic priority alignment at the base. This summer we embarked on 23 professional learning hubs supporting our um finance teams, our custodial teams, our teachers at every level, our para educators. You're going to notice a through thread on the right. I've provided uh several of

024the topics covered. Uh so uh this learning is frontloaded for our administrators. Then through the teacher lens uh at grade level which was requested uh by teachers, we offered highquality instructional resource support uh for our math and English language arts curriculums. We also offered EL strategies based off our data and what we knew we needed. And finally, parent square with our two-way uh communication. By the numbers, we offered over 35,217 professional learning hours in our hubs. 958 total sessions, 373 of those uh being unique. Our average feedback score was a 4.56 on a Lyker score, which I do need to note is a fivepoint scale. Um and again our 23 hubs all of this designed to support uh rosp specific professional learning for our 9,600 plus employees to ultimately impact our four 41,500 uh students

025and their student outcome trajectories. Uh our feedback uh so we're always wanting more feedback. It's always a challenge to get feedback but we did have 3,100 uh unique uh entries for feedback. I also want to highlight this platform. We have uh an internally built um computer application or app uh for our hubs uh where uh teachers are able to select their sessions. We take attendance through this. They're able to give us feedback. all developed internally and is very responsive uh for for need. Very quickly on professional lead uh learning hub feedback, I'll touch on one of these. The session facilitator leader was knowledgeable. This was a 4.63. And what's exciting about this? The vast majority of presenters were teachers from our schools were our coaches, our specialists. So this is internal capacity. Our top one,

026this is the reality of teaching. Literally, everything was helpful. I'm overwhelmed with info, but it was all meaningful, meaningful for my new role. There's a lot on our plates. Our teachers are faced with a lot, but we're here to support them. On the other end of the spectrum, I wish we were able to move around, but due to limited space, we could not complete the session rotation. That's important information so that we can make this better. Is the space conducive to the learning? One of the most important stages if not the most is phase five and that's our ongoing professional learning which is pivotal and uh definitely supported by research is as impactful. We have our DLM, our PLC's, our coaching cycles. But the idea is we have this front loading loaded professional learning that

027is then activated uh through um continuums related to those folky throughout the year. I shared earlier we're we're going to embark on a new journey with professional learning networks. The goal here is continued school specific learning as an entire school in the mornings and in the afternoon we have an opportunity for ongoing learning for some of our professional learning networks built into our our days. These are the role groups impacted for the 2025 2026 school year. We have uh fine arts uh and as another example new special education teachers option six those who are really trying education and and embarking on this journey on the front end. Are there any questions? >> Thank you Mr. Matil for that overview. Any questions board members? You mentioned option six. How does uh grow your own fit into

028the equation as well? is that >> yes so I I think there are multiple layers. I hope uh something that came out of the presentation today is there are very um intentional moves layer by layer to ensure consistency and support. Uh so grow your own uh would also interact in these layers in addition to the professional learning networks. Uh I believe they have ongoing learning days even beyond what's represented in the three professional learning network days. >> And one thing you mentioned the the rating um feedback and so forth. Is there, this is something we've discussed before, but does your team also look at that direct connection between uh when and an an educator or staff member participates in professional learning uh how that translates to impact in the classroom >> and tracking that that

029data as well towards student outcomes. >> Yes. Yes. So we uh I would argue that there are multiple triangulations within that monitoring to see if the support is actually leading to that shift in uh student outcome. Uh and that takes a change in in practice at a at a teacher level uh in some instances. And so there are um monitoring u by school by coach uh with individuals uh teachers who are seeking support uh in those implementation of coaching cycles. We are also consistently using our balanced assessment system uh to see what that's doing at scale. So there's individual class monitoring, individual teacher monitoring, but also what are what are we shifting at a uh school and district level. Um walkthrough data would be another piece that was involved in that uh triangulation. And so,

030and I'm assuming as a followup that that fits in with the the PGP work as an educator, I know sometimes the professional growth plan can seem preuncter, but if you have the support of your school and administration to make sure that that that feedback and that conversation is authentic and then connecting them with the the things they feel like they need to support students that >> Yes, it's very accurate. our um our district professional learning plan is in alignment with our school professional learning plan while leaving space uh for the unique programming of each building. So there's there's an alignment and a monitoring at each level. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Anything else, board members? >> Thank you, Jesse. And thank you board members for your investment in professional growth. This

031is something that was heard loud and clear from our community during our strategic planning process and so happy to see that in full fruition and uh happy to see the growth it's outcomes is having for kids. Uh today in our community uh partnership update for September, uh I'm excited to spotlight a unique collaboration uh that have drawn together uh our engineering company, Bullard, uh our Lexington Fire Department, as well as um students from four of our schools. So um I see them all sitting up front. So Michael Adams and uh Shad Latesville wants to come forward and share a little bit more about uh this year's community partnership. [Music] Good evening. Good evening, board members, Superintendent Ligins, and all who are joining us in person and virtually. I'm Michael Adams, program manager for external partnerships,

032and I work under the leadership of our chief of staff, Mr. Bruno. I'm here to spotlight a new and transformative partnership we built with Bullard. I'm joined at the podium by Shad Lacefield, our STEM learning coach, who has done incredible work originating and expanding this relationship to multiple elementary, middle, and high schools. Since its founding in 1898 by Ed Bullard, Bullard has been a global leader in designing and manufacturing personal protective equipment from fighter from firefighters and construction workers to health care professionals and and sciences. Bullard provides industries with durable and reliable equipment that is Bullard tough through their Cynthiana, Lexington, Singapore, and Germany locations. This spirit of innovation is in Bullard's DNA. As a fun fact, in 1919, EW Bullard invent invented the hardboiled hard hat to protect miners from the hazards they face.

033Bullard has a rich history of solving customer uh problems in innovative ways, enabling these customers to have long, healthy, and productive lives. It's a privilege to work with an organization so dedicated to innovation and excellence. Now, I'm going to get out the way and I'm going to let Shad introduce our partners and share more about a very special project our students have been working on with Bullard. Good evening, board. To help our fire department address the needs of children they encounter every day, our students were tasked with collaborating to design and print fidgets to use in both outreach and emergency situations. This initiative empowered students to apply real world STEM skills to address important community needs. This was a huge team effort made possible by teachers Ashley Rosen and Sydney Pros from Steam, Brian Schumer

034at George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys who could not be here tonight. Um, but representing George Washington Carver, we do have principal Allen and also face leaison Maria Wartsler. I saw Miss Jackson, too, so I'm not forgetting you. Um, at Rise STEM Academy for Girls, Lily Frasier, and then supporting as well, we do have um Cynthia Bruno, principal, and coach Kristen Wit as well. And then at Letown Middle School, we have Jake Dwise and Jenny McCall, the teachers that led it there. [Applause] Each of our schools had training and support from the Office of Instructional Technology team led by Ashley Faulner and Brandon French. There's Ashley there. With additional support from OIT team members Jennifer Rees, who's also here tonight, um Allison French and Jeffrey Sprinkle. Our FCPS creative media team has recorded the

035entire project from start to finish. They are putting together a video kind of like the ones you all saw here tonight and we'll be happy to share it with you after our final event with the Lexington Fire Department on October 5th. This community kickoff event for National Fire Prevention Month is at Masterson Station Park from 2 to 6 PM. Projects like these are not easy, but we had an amazing community partner in Bullard who with the help of Rich Real, their product development manager, organized volunteers to give their expertise in engineering, 3D printing, and teamwork to help coach and support our students along the way. Bullard is also donating filament to help print the thousand fidgets ordered by the Lexington Fire Department, costing our district nothing. This initiative truly showcases our district's goals for every

036graduate to be a lifelong learner, civically engaged and culturally responsive, future and life ready, and reflective and resilient. I hope this is the first of many chances we get to share with you how we are using STEM learning and instructional technology to support students learning at high levels. It is a privilege to now introduce a champion of this partnership and our two guests tonight CEO Wells Bullard and Tegan Avery um FCPS graduate. >> Thank you so much Michael. Thank you so much Chad. Thank you so much to the board and Dr. Ligins. Uh, my name is Wells Bullard and I am lucky enough to be the president and CEO of Bullard, which as Michael nicely introduced, uh, we're 127year young uh, fifth generation family-owned company that is completely focused on protecting people. So, we design,

037develop, manufacture, market, and sell uh, safety equipment, uh, fire helmets, thermal imaging cameras, head hard hats, uh, respiratory protection that protects really brave workers all over the world. And we do it, we make everything in Cynthiana, Kentucky and Harrison County and we have an office here in Lexington. Uh and then Singapore and Germany as well. Uh we're really lucky. We are called to protect the people who protect our communities. And so we're really grateful for this amazing opportunity to be able to partner with Faget County Public Schools and to help our firefighter heroes help kids they encounter uh in challenging situations and bring our team's amazing skills uh to uh the incredibly creative and talented and capable students from FET County Public Schools. Uh engineering is problem solving, right? It's translating user needs into solutions.

038Uh and there's a lot of learning and a lot of iteration. uh which I think you'll hear from the students. Um and for us at Bullard, engineering enables magic. Like it allows us to listen to our customers, see what problems they might have, and then turn plastic pellets into lifesaving uh personal protective equipment that enables people to go home safely after doing really important work. And so I'm really proud to be here with Rich Reel who is our uh product development engineering manager. Also Amanda Vaname uh who's our human resources business partner and talent and acquisition manager. And then someone you should all be very proud of Fyet County Public Schools own Tegan Avery who is a product development mechanical engineer. So thank you. >> All right. Good evening members of the board. Dr. Ligins.

039It's great to be here. Thank you Shad and Michael for that introduction and Wells for the introduction. Um, so as Walls mentioned, my name is Tegan Avery and I am a mechanical engineer at Bullard. So, it's really just been an incredible honor to be involved in this partnership and I'm really impressed by the quality of work completed by these scholars. I truly think they're smarter than I am at this point. Um, but these scholars have received technical feedback really well. They've made all recommended changes and communicated with all of our Ber representatives at a very high level. As a product of FCPS myself, it's really encouraging to see the emphasis on STEM programs throughout Fate County Public Schools. In my time, I attended Rose Parks Elementary, Bowmont Middle School, and eventually graduated from Paul Lawrence

040Dunar High School as a part of the class of 2020. And it was at Bowmont where I first was exposed to the idea of engineering. I had a projectbased class called technology education where students got to flex engineering muscles we didn't know that we had. And in that class, I got to build paper rockets, crushed towers made out of balsa wood sticks and glue, and race CO2 cartridge cars that we sanded down ourselves. In it was in that class when my teacher, Mr. Neil, pulled me aside and said, "Tegan, you have to be an engineer." He was a vital part of the path of becoming who I am today. And I can honestly tell you, I would not be sitting in front of you today if it weren't for him. That's why I was thrilled

041about this opportunity to partner with Fate County Public Schools and give back to the district that made me who I am today. Exposure to projects like this is quite literally lighting the fire of in engineering of engineering in students and I will take any chance I get to be someone else's Mr. Neil. So, thank you all for your time. [Applause] Also this evening, we do have Captain Steve Lewis from the Lexington Fire Department. Uh good evening board. Thanks for having me. So, from the Lexon Fire Department um with community services and public education, I just want to give a big thank you and shout out to Bullard uh Shad, the school STEM Academy for doing this project. It's amazing. Um what we encounter on a daily basis with these children on traumatic runs or incidents,

042um these fidgets will help take their minds other places in a more positive direction. Um, so it's it's a great asset that we'll have on the trucks, on the ambulances, and at the fire prevention festival on October 5th. Um, going into these classes and seeing these students, um, the enthusiasm was off the charts. It really, um, gave me a good feeling. um to see them and how energetic and enthusiastic they were about the projects, the outcome, um the learning environment. So, kudos to them. Um thank you all so much and uh have a good evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. And now definitely the moment I'm sure you all have been waiting for. We do have some fidgets and some students that would love to share. We tried to limit but there were so many

043kids that wanted to share that you'll see quite a few. So uh representing steam we have students Bailey Barrett, Elodie Betts, Lynden Martin and Luke Liippard. So you all can come up. Hi, my name is Bailey Barrett and during this project we I have learned that how to com collaborate with others and kind of group together with the community to create a common goal with the community that we are in now. Hi, my name is Elodie Betts. My favorite part was working with the 3D printers and 3D modeling, which is something most students don't have access to. You're next. >> Hello, my name is Luke Libert. Um, this project helped me fulfill the FCPS promise of civically engaged by putting us in scenarios where we had to think about the experiences and values of those

044who have experienced trauma and decide our or design our fidget accordingly. Hi, my name is Lyndon Martin and I would like to thank Bullard for this amazing opportunity they included us in and the amazing Bullard teams who came into our classes and gave us feedback and showed us how our project reached outside the classroom. >> Questions? >> Yeah, the >> we'll open up for questions. >> These will come in very handy during the board meeting. I will say that for certain. Excellent. Uh any questions board members? >> Chair Murphy >> Warmer Green. >> All right. So the question on the floor any of you all did this spark um interest in pursuing engineering? Did this um further an interest you have? You talked about I think um one of you said this is the first

045time you got to use a 3D printer. So if you can just share a little bit more about how this is um creating more interest. >> During our project we have some of us are in the same class. So we all kind of had our own experiences but we were all in groups and what we did is some of us we were broken down into like a manager, a CAD engineer, a safety manager and a >> designer and I for one was a CAD engineer. So I would be on CAD and the fidgets that you have, I would be the one designing the one that would be set to the 3D printer to print and I would also be helping my physics teacher, Miss Rosen. I would stay after and come and help print and

046make sure things ran smoothly. And during that we would be kind we would be working with Bullard and Mr. Lacefield and Mr. French. We would all like have meetings and they would come in and give us feedback and with that feedback we would grow our project and we would change to adapt to what they wanted and to make it better. Um, at least how I interpreted the question, I think it really showed us that there's more opportunities in this field and this is kind of just like testing the waters and it's really interesting to get to work with everyone and it was really fun and the hands-on learning aspect of opening Tinkercad and physically modeling the fidgets was such a new and eye opening experience for so me and so many other students. For most

047of my life, I have had an interest in engineering. And I guess this project just kind of opened my eyes to how engineering can actually apply to people's lives and just kind of the different ways engineering can affect people. So, this is been a great project for me. >> Thank you all. that Bmer Christian. >> So, I'm thinking about uh our portrait of a graduate and I'm thinking about how we want our students to be well-rounded, right? So, what I'm hearing right now and what you're doing is I'm hearing that you understand the concept of empathy, right? And you're speaking to the firefighters and they're sharing stories about kids uh in whatever situation of trauma and you've tapped into that and you're like, "How can I make that better?" So, I appreciate that you understand

048what empathy is, right? You don't have to have gone through what they've gone through to understand that there's a need. So, kudos for that. >> Thank you. >> What What inspired I'm sorry. >> Okay. >> I thought I thought that was >> If you're ready to get out, you can go. No. Uh, tell me some a little bit about the inspiration for your designs. These are are unique. I like I really like them here. I'm sitting here playing with this, by the way. Um, so what were your inspirations? Was it other fidget spinners? Is some personal interest? What? >> A lot of these are the final product. Not of a lot of them have a different starting point. For mine is the one with the two wheels that you have up front. No, the other

049one. >> No, >> that the one Dr. Ligins has it the original design would have been a fire extinguisher. However, it took too long to print and it kept giving trouble. So, me and my group, we decided to change it to the one that you have here. It is more reliable and it's a lot easier to print and it doesn't break as easy. >> Very good. Which then in and of itself is an important learning process, right? That sometimes the first >> uh prototype doesn't go according to plan and then you have to back up and punt. It's a learning process. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> I know my inspiration it that of course the ones that you all have like she said are not the base product but the inspiration for that actually came

050from my mom at the dinner table talking about this project and then we extended upon it. And of course the bowler team was so much help like smoothing out all the little issues and it was really yeah it was a group project. So, my teammates and the Bullard and my teachers, they all contributed to what we have now. >> That's incredible. >> Originally, I wanted to make uh well, our current fidget, me and my group's current fidget is the fidget spinner with the fire alarm in the middle. >> And I c at first wanted to make like a button with a fire alarm, but my teammates thought that having a fidget spinner would be more easy to understand and use. So, we combined both of our ideas and had this fidget spinner in the middle

051part where you put your fingers. It has fire alarm on it and has a little fire alarm bell. Um, you know, for other groups, for example, Lyndon's group had a little Dalmatian dog with a fire hat on it, which is so cute. And, uh, Bullard is specifically helped us as well with a Graham limit as well as a different like a color palette for us to use. And it helped us have outlines to start with so we weren't completely thrown into this new world of 3D modeling and 3D printing as well as manufacturing. >> Yeah, the little Dalmatians may be something our friends at Brenda Cowan will hop on. Uh, you know, since that's their their mascot. Luke, go ahead. >> Uh, yeah. So, our design um was the fire hat um that Miss Green

052has or Yeah. Um, we wanted to along the topic of empathy, we wanted to do something that wouldn't necessarily relate to the fire or trauma that they had experienced, but more to something that could help them to like something they could rely on. So, we kind of went with the fire hat as that was one of the most recognizable parts of firemen. Um, and as for the gyroscope, I thought it looked cool and my group went with it. [Music] Going on what Luke said about the trauma and the situations that the kids could be in, it's a broad category that they could be put in. And the trauma actually affects their brain and it slows down their development process. And it's more potent as they get older that they can't seem to cope as well

053as people who haven't suffered like they did. It shows as they get older they don't have the same coping mechanisms and it gets harder to learn what they what others have now. >> Very good. >> I'm going to Can I jump in just real fast? Um cuz this like I love this because this is like their passion and stuff and being able to share and they will literally just talk to you the entire time and I love it so much because it shows them how passionate it is. But I definitely don't want to forget and we'll call up the other groups as well because I want you all to hear from the other kids at the other schools. Again, I have to give them just applaud them so much cuz they're all brilliant, amazing, so

054smart, and just love it. >> And if I may ask them one last question. I always I want to hear this from students. Um I and I try to ask this of students when we hear from them. Uh number one, what is something um that you wish someone who may not be familiar with Faget County Public Schools or may not have the lived experiences of Fyet County Public Schools each and every day? What is something about FCPS that you think they need to know or they should know? And then what can we do to better support the work that you're doing? And anyone can take that. >> I'd say that they would need to know that you guys are putting in the work. Those Fate County public school promises are such a cool outline and

055it really does show how well-rounded you want us as students to be and how you're truly preparing us for our future as well as for other like fields we're going into and for life really. um to improve I think to keep the track that's been going because so far just being in uh high school for a month or so it's been great and seeing all that is just been a really good experience on my end I have like to improve there have been like bullying incidents that don't get reported and or just have nothing done about it mainly at middle schools and because people are just too afraid to say anything because no they feel no one is listening. What I think is like they need to know more that people are actually there to

056help them instead of just ignoring it. real quick. I've only been at Fy County public schools for a couple months because I was in private, but it's so amazing that we have all these programs and tech schools and opportunities to learn what it's like and to figure out what you want to do and like get this hands-on learning. And I think it's a really amazing thing, an amazing opportunity we get. >> I have nothing to add to that. >> Thank you all. Okay, let's hear from the other group. Give you all a round of applause. >> Thank you. >> So, I'm going to call all four of the next students up um announcing their schools that they're with. They also have more fidgets for you guys. So, you get to see even some of the

057other fidgets from the other schools. So, representing Letown Middle School, we have Nathan Snow and Liam Shelby. Represent. Yep. Let's give them a hand. [Applause] Representing Rise STEM Academy for Girls, we have Marjorie Newman. And then from George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys, we have Harden Gillis. [Applause] Hello. Um, my name is Nathan Snow from Leasetown Middle School. And, uh, I I I'd like to say thank you to all the people who've been helping me through this project through 3D modeling and everything. Through this project, I've learned how to apply my Onshape 3D printing and CAD modeling skills to uh to a realworld problem, helping calm students during times of crisis and trauma. My favorite part of um 3D printing the model uh in the was in the colors that I selected with our

058new um Bamboo P1S 3D printer. I I I really enjoyed learning this experience and um I I love 3D printing and I'd like to thank Bullard for their time and their three different visits to Leon Middle School. Thank you. My name is Liam Shriveley and I look and from Lisa Middle School and I think through this project I've really learned how to be empathetic for people in traum traumatizing situations and I've also learned how to use modeling softwares on a higher level than just doing something for myself but outreaching and doing it for the community which also in turn can make you feel good about yourself because in studies it shows that when you're helping other people you can feel better for yourself and my favorite part of doing this enjoy just like making it

059and then seeing it come to life through printing and seeing it my revisions work through it and all the people giving me feedback through it and making it the best model it could be and then I would really like to thank Bullard uh on the emphasis for buying all of the filament because filament can be really expensive up to $30 a roll and you know obviously that's a lot of money so I'd really thank Bullard for you know providing all this for us so we can reach out to our community and help people. >> Hi, my name is Marjorie from Rice Sim Academy. Through this project, I've learned that kids need fidgets to calm down if their house is burning down. They need something to do with their hands and distract them with the fidget.

060I learned to use Tinker Cat to design a fidget. First, I had to start with one cube and add textures to it. My favorite part was designing the fidget for the fire department to design it. We used a template of a fidget on the tink on tinkle cat and we got to add textures and designs. I put words like calm and breathe on the fidget so they will be calm and distracted from bad things. What I what to I want to thank B for letting rise the third grade and me for doing this project. It's been fun and cool to do. It makes me feel good to design something that other kids will use and it will make them feel happy. I hope we get to do projects like this in the future because it

061made me feel good. [Applause] My name is Harden Gillis from George Washington STEM Academy. This was this was this project was a great learn great learning opportunity. My favorite part was making the project and working working with my team to help design the help design the project and add stuff to it. I want to thank the I want to thank the engineers at Bullet for teaching us for teaching us about their design process and giving us a helpful feedback on a design. Thank you all so much. And look, I mean, we're we're all set for tonight's meeting with all of these fidgets. >> Uh any questions, board members, or comments? Chair Murphy Green. >> So when we talk about as adults, we talk about people having soft skills, right? And because we are continue human

062beings, we can always learn. We can continue to grow and learn things. But the skills that you eight amazing scholars have just showed us, I think any employer would say, I want them on my team. They can uh work in a group. They can take feedback. They can um re-engineer their ideas. And you were talking about is it efficient? Is it effective? Is it cost u worthy? And so I I mean I have goosebumps. I am just so proud as sitting here in this that I'm able to sit here and witness your all's amazing skills that you have right now. So please continue to have ownership of that. Have pride of your skills. Um I'm so excited to see where all eight of you and your classmates will go. And so thank you for taking

063the moments to share your experiences with us. >> Thank you. But do you have anything or Mayor Christian? >> Uh Marjorie, you almost got me. Um you almost Well, you did get me. You got me. Um the words, the affirming words on here, and if you all don't know, the words she has on here are breathe. It's okay. Rise up. And that that's good. >> That's all I got. Thank you. Uh, and I will say again echoing what both uh, Bor Green and Bormer Christian said is that uh, in our positions up here, it's it's it shouldn't look this intimidating. Don't worry about it. We're just we're just regular people. Okay. Um, it's easy for us to be at that view like we're flying an airplane, right? And and everyone down below, you know, we

064are kind of it's kind of out of focus. So hearing directly from you all about these incredible opportunities is very important for us, right? Because it it reminds us of that work that's happening each day in the classroom and the incredible things that you are doing. And so just just like I asked the other the other group, uh what what would you all say to somebody that's outside of your schools uh that they need to know about what's happening at Letown or at Rise or at George Washington Carver? Um, I would say here at Letown, we have like the amazing opportunity to have multiple 3D printers, including an AMS printer. So, AMS is a type of filament where it is very hard to like print with regular printers. And so, when you have an AMS

065printer, it really opens up the opportunities of being able to use different types of designs and other things rather than just using one type of filament. But even then, all of our printers and all of our resources at the school that we're at and all the student help resources can really like help, you know, the students. Let's say a student's going through a hard time, they need someone to talk to. We have five currently. We have five different um like help like people who who you can talk to and then each grade level has a specific um resource resources staff and then even pre-inch so is like a program here and it has its own resource stuff too. So, I'd say just all the help staff and everything here and all the resources really helps

066helps Letown be one of the what I would say one of the best schools I've ever been to. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'd like to add on that. I think I feel really safe at least sound and really um amazed by all the work that the teachers put in to teaching us how to do all this stuff, teaching us how to divide, how to subtract, all this all this little tiny stuff that will really help us in the future life. And I'm just I'm so proud to call myself a Letown student here in Faget County Public Schools. And yeah, I'm I'm just really really excited for the upcoming year. >> Thank you. >> Marjorie, do you have anything to add, Marjorie or Harden? >> Harden, go ahead. George. >> I'm glad to be

067at George Washington Carver because it's a STEM school and the teachers the teachers are really nice and they usually when we're doing science they let us do like a little project. >> Very good. Very good. Excellent. Thank you all so much. >> We appreciate you all. >> You all would it be would it be okay if we got a picture with the students? >> Absolutely. >> Is that okay? And our partners Bullard. >> Yes. and the fire department. Quick picture. All right. >> Educators, if you if you guys want to come up too, that'll be great. I think right here might be the back. One, two, three. [Applause] >> Thank you. I think we can just adjourn right there. Some of those some of those kids handed us some mic drop moments. So, we appreciate

068that. >> Thank you all so so very much. Thank you board for uh having that amazing opportunity for our kids each and every uh day. One of the things I would like to do is invite our media partners as well to cover some of the amazing things like this that are happening in our schools every single day um making a difference for our kids. And so that was just absolutely amazing. I was quite blown away. Um that concludes my superintendent report this evening. I will turn the meeting back over to you, Chairman Murphy. >> Thank you, Superintendent Ligins. Uh, next on our agenda is time for public comment. Members of the FA County Board of Education policy 01.45 states members of the public may address the board during the period set aside by the board

069without submitting an item for the agenda. No action shall be taken during this portion of the meeting on issues raised by employees of the public unless deemed an emergency. At the beginning of the meeting, members of the public who have signed up prior to the meeting are invited to speak on items that are on the agenda. Speakers will not be allowed to make any disparaging or critical remarks by individuals employees of the district. Instead, those are processed through the district's complaint procedures, which afford the individuals to whom comments or complaints are directed the opportunity for response and due process. Furthermore, members of the public are encouraged to model civil and respectful discourse and conduct. This is not intended to be a time for debate or direct engagement with the board. However, the board will take

070the public's input into consideration when making final decisions this evening. The total time for public comment at action meetings on matters appearing on the agenda uh are is traditionally limited to 30 minutes. Uh that this time we do have 19 speakers who have signed up to speak on matters uh that are on the agenda. I'll ask each of our speakers to come up to the podium and keep those remarks to three minutes or less. Our first speaker this evening is uh Katherine McClung. A timer will appear on the screen behind me and then following Uh, Miss McClung, it looks like we have uh Laura Webb, who's been yielded time from Michael Garcia. Miss McClung, you'll have three minutes. All right, I'm a little short. So, my name is Cat McClung. I live, work, and pay

071taxes in Lexington. I previously worked at the Tennessee Department of Transportation and at Lexington FY urban county government. I mentioned this because I worked on large multi-million dollar grants monitoring them for compliance and federal, state, and local regulations. It's hard to understand how FCPS got here within the budget um given the knowledge I have in maintaining compliance for such budgets. There is either incompetence or mismanagement and neither is acceptable when it comes to education. Many people here have asked for an external forensic audit. I agree, but I want to make clear the request last week to remove any potential redundancies from the audit is not preferable as a taxpayer. Superintendent Ligins and the board have lost trust within the public. In order for me to truly trust the results of such an audit, it would

072require that the entire audit be conducted outside of the entity of FCPS. I am happy to use my taxes to ensure that anyone mismanaging funds be held appropriately accountable. I ask the board not to reduce the scope of the external audit to maintain the transparency you've promised and thus far failed to provide the public. Um, I also just want to mention I am here in solidarity with aft. Um, I know previously it was thought that they were a small group of voices, but I assure you that is growing and there is a lot of discontent here. Um, I ask that you pay attention to any of their requests, including um, that for collective bargaining and for the external forensic audit and I yield my time. >> Thank you, Miss McClung. Our next speaker is uh,

073Laura Webb. Miss Webb, you will have six minutes. >> I've also been by I need the name please. Ian. Okay, thank you. So that will be nine minutes. Hello, my name is Laura Webb. I'm a voting taxpaying citizen of District 5 and this is the third schoolboard meeting I've attended this month. At the last meeting I attended two weeks ago on Monday the 8th. I, among other allies of the American Federation of Teachers, arrived by 5:30 p.m. to sign up for public comment. After the meeting began at 6:00, the board deliberated for about an hour and a half before opening the floor to public comment, meaning any member of the public who planned to speak had been waiting for at least two hours to do so. I personally waited nearly 3 hours. I say all

074of this not to complain about weight times, but to emphasize how important this issue is to me and many other citizens of Lexington. I've been following the developments of this financial crisis through these meetings, as well as through local news outlets, and a number of things have stood out to me. I've noticed that our public comment period is prefaced by a reminder that it's not for disparaging comments, which is understandable, or critical comments, which is less understandable. But I digress. I agree that the school board meetings are no place for insults. I would like to see this board and its superintendent held to that same standard. Dr. Ligins and Chair Murphy's actions and attitude have been quite frankly insulting. Insulting to students, to parents, to teachers and school staff, and to taxpayers. Class, let's review.

075So far, I have witnessed you and other individuals deflect responsibility for this budgetary crisis upon your subordinates. You've had the audacity to blame this deficit on school staffing and kids without adequate lunch money instead of on administrative travel, catering, and other lavish spending such as monogrammed robes. I have heard other board members testify that important and dense information was only sent to them for review mere hours before it was to be discussed, forcing them to take your word for its explanation. Last Tuesday's meeting was changed in the 11th hour to no longer allow public comment. After the meeting on Friday the 5th, I spent nearly an hour talking to members of the American Federation of Teachers outside this building, during which time Dr. Lian did not show his face once. I could only guess that

076he either waited for us to leave or used an alternate exit. During at least one of these meetings, Dr. Lian said that they'd be investigating. Quote, "If this could have been caught sooner, not if it could have been prevented, if it could have been caught sooner, which is a baffling statement. The only way no one could have caught this issue sooner is if the money went missing just before accounts were reviewed. I'm not a financial expert, but I have a simple solution for that problem going forward. Check it more often." In previous meetings and interviews, Dr. Ligins has expressed the sentiment of hindsight is 2020. that going forward he now knows to ask more questions and review information personally and more thoroughly. That would be understandable if this was the first time large-scale financial mismanagement

077had happened on his watch. But it isn't. This has happened before. In his previous position in Texas as superintendent of the Greenville Independent School District, which came under scrutiny for missing funds in financial mismanagement. At the time, the community was persuaded that a basic audit was sufficient. However, a later forensic audit determined that there had been quote misconduct to include mismanagement and abuse of position among other problems. I have a hard time believing that someone in charge of an educational system, someone with a doctorate, cannot learn from past mistakes. There's no reason Dr. Ligins couldn't have learned to ask more questions in 2017 and 2018. If that's not what he took away from that experience, what is? To not get caught up in a forensic audit until after you've moved on to another school district.

078Chair Murphy made some statements about not wanting these circumstances to overshadow the good work of our schools and teachers. I have not heard a single person in any of these meetings imply that this financial mismanagement reflects on teachers or school staff at all. That is not from anyone who is not sitting behind one of these tables. If you don't want our schools to look bad, then I suggest you work on your own behavior and consider more carefully the behavior you enable in others. As much as it looks like it on the surface, I don't actually think Dr. Lkins and Chury think we're stupid. I think they just assume that we can't do anything about this. I want to prove them wrong. Let's demand a forensic audit. Let's support the power of teachers through a collective

079bargaining agreement. And let's remember this. To repeat what's on the back of many AFT t-shirts, we care. We fight. We show up. We vote. Chair Murphy's position will come up for election in 2027. I won't forget this and I won't let anyone I know forget it either. I yield the rest of my time. >> Thank you. Our next speaker, thank you, Miss Webb. Our next speaker is Bradley Hill. Mr. Hill. And after Mr. Hill, we will have Colin Harris. Good evening. My name is Bradley Hill. Um, I'm hungry and I'm tired of coming to these meetings, so I'm going to keep this brief. Um, I read the statements put out today by Superintendent Ligins and Chairman Murphy. Uh, I find it disappointing that Superintendent Lianigans would choose to paint himself a victim here. Um, the

080milestones mentioned may be true, but it does not excuse any negligence that may have led to misplacing millions of dollars. Um, we do need a full forensic audit and we need to guarantee protections for Title One school funding for our students. Um, Chairman Murphy, you stated that you leave the politics to Frankfurt and Washington. And to me, it seems like the reason you won't put a collective bargaining agreement uh for your teachers to a vote is very much politics. So why not go ahead and call the vote and leave the politics to Frankfurt and Washington like you prefer. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Hill. Our next speaker is Colin Harris. After Mr. Harris, we'll have Larry Moore. >> Thank you very much. My name is Colin Harris. I'm a resident of Lexington. I live,

081work, vote, and pay taxes here. I've only recently learned about the budget discrepancy that we are here to discuss today, and I'm astonished. $16 million missing from the budget with untold millions more missing from the contingency fund. That shortfall alone could fund a living wage for over 200 teachers, could pay a large chunk of all the supplies needed for all the schools across the county. This level of gross mismanagement would not be acceptable in the best of times. But in an era where the funding of our entire education system is under attack on an unprecedented level, this failure demands accountability. We, the people of Lexington, whose taxes fund this institution, demand a full forensic external audit of FCPS. Whether this budget shortfall is a result of gross incompetence or foul play, we deserve to see

082those receipts. With this much money missing, I can see no excuse to argue against such an investigation and to spare no expense in finding out all the details and I would have serious doubts about the motivations of anyone who would oppose such an investigation. As the superintendent presiding over Fyet County Public Schools, I believe this audit should be funded at least in part from the salary of Mr. Lian, whose personal travel budget of $60,000 in the past 6 months alone could fund a large portion of this audit. If there's no foul play, he should be the one most eager to investigate where the money went. And if there was, we demand answers and accountability. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Larry Moore. After Mr. more. We will have Erica Snow. My name

083is Larry Moore and I'm here tonight as a concerned member of Lexington community. I understand the board's decision to seek advice of the audit committee to determine whether an operational or forensic audit is appropriate. However, I want to express my strong belief that an operational audit alone is insufficient given these circumstances. We are facing number one a contingency reserve below the board's own 6% policy threshold for fiscal 25 and fiscal 26. Number two, positions and our programs which were originally funded with URS funds that were rolled into the fiscal 26 budget. Number number four, delay disclosure of the annual financial report to both the budget solutions workg group and the board. Number five, the lack of the board's inquiry into the AFR filing deadlines and the special reserve um AR detail and collectibility of that

084reserve because any uncollected comes back to the general fund. Number six, a budget director placed on administrative leave now represented by legal counsel. Number seven, the community that is losing trust in the board and the district leadership. Number eight, a great number of these issues make bond rating agencies very nervous and concerned. These are not just operational in inefficiencies. They raise serious questions about governance, accountability, and potential misfeasants. A forensic audit is designed to uncover whether financial mismanagement, concealment, or breach of fiduciary duty have occurred. It is the only tool that can restore public confidence and ensure transparency. I highly urge the board and the audit committee to pursue a forensic audit. Not to assign blame permanently, but bring clarity, accountability, and healing to this district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Moore. Our next

085speaker is Erica Snow. After Miss Snow, we will have Christian Adair. Hello board. In May, I was here talking about preschoolers and the equity surrounding preschool transportation. My pleas fell on deaf ears, to which I had to attend not one but two special arc meetings for my special education child. And guess what? His transportation for an afternoon session to Arlington Elementary was secured because he had a mother who knows the law and knows his rights. Now that children are fully at Arlington, guess what? There's not enough morning spots for all of those children living in our districted area to get to Arlington. So, what did the district decide to do? They have now sent two buses to my neighborhood driving right by my house to pick up the special transportation I had to request and

086the regular students who also need transportation to preschool because they are once again special education and low-income students. Now, I say all of this and I probably wouldn't be here tonight because again, I feel like some things just fall on deaf ears. However, imagine my surprise last week when I turned in and watched Superintendent Murphy in the uh legislative session and he was sharing what was what he felt like were the big things. And the two things two of the four things mentioned were special education students and preschool transportation. And yet I sat through two really unneeded ARC meetings and again two buses coming to my neighborhood. And that's what we're going to blame this budget shortfall on. I mean, call me crazy, but I was a high school math teacher. I now have a

087job in another district serving students. Um, and it's not hard to do the math that one bus is cheaper than two. And not making um ACC sit through extra ARC meetings can also save a little bit of money. And finally, just because I have a minute left and I'm wearing my AFT t-shirt tonight, I thought it might be good to just once again put out there that collective bargaining is great, not just for the teachers, but also for all of you. It's a way for you to have transparency. It's a way for you to really put out there where all of the dollars are going. If we know how much teachers are getting paid and what's expected of them, people don't ask questions about how much money is being spent on salaries in a district.

088And I thank you for your time tonight. Thank you, Miss Snow. Our next speaker is Christian Adair. After Mr. Adair, we will have Allan Avetnik. Good evening, board and superintendent Lian. My name is Christian Adair. I am a taxpayer, former educator, advocate, and uh professional volunteer. So, I'm here to get fact checked if possible cuz my family, my daughters, my granddaughter, we all live here and we all pay. So, we just wanted to clarify a few things and I'm okay with being fact checked. We know we need that this going, you know, what's going on this uh this society right now. Um, under current leadership, our graduation rate has climbed from 89.9% to over 92.6%. It has increased. FCPS has one of the highest graduation rates in Kentucky. Student attendance improved across the district. Suspensions

089decreased. TSI schools reduced from 34 to 12 in two years. No TSI designations remain for communities that face economic barriers and receive rest less resources. Two Fed County Public School high schools, Lafayette and Dunar, rank in Kucky's top 25. Uh Dr. Demetrius Ligins was named Kentucky Superintendent of the Year by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators. Um, am I wrong on any of this? So, again, that's all I wanted to come and clarify. see if these facts that I've I found out out here using chat GBT and friends and resources to figure out if uh this if the school district is going in the right direction under this board's leadership and if not please correct me. I we don't need any time. Alicia Dar is up next or soon but she doesn't need her time

090as well. >> Thank you. Thank you Mr. Dair. Our next speaker is Alan Vetnik. >> Okay, that's noted. And we will then have Deborah Girth. And after uh Miss Girth, Amanda Preston. Good evening. My name is Deborah Girth and I've already had a chance to tell you my story so I won't repeat it. I want to take a step back and remind you and all of us of a very important fact that I learned myself as a volunteer in my churches and other nonprofit organizations which is that the budget you are considering is built on other people's money. It is not the governance government's money. Obviously, you know, it's not your money. All of us together have pulled our resources for the public welfare, specifically for the benefit of our children. From this fact follow

091two principles. First, full transparency and second, rigorous board oversight. Because of deficiencies in following these principles, only a full forensic audit will now be able to restore transparency and trust. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Miss Girth. Our next speaker is Amanda Preston. After Miss Preston, we will have uh Tanyy Coats. >> Okay, that's six minutes. I stood up here in February and made my first public comment ever to the board. Really after watching Chair Murphy steamroll the renewal of Dr. Ligan's contract. And as someone else mentioned, I was in Frankfurt and Dr. Lian said himself, "Hindsight is 2020." We all now know why that vote had to be pushed through so quickly before the public understood the real state of Faget County Public Schools financials. At that time, I reminded all of

092you up here of something simple but fundamental. You are elected to represent your constituents and Dr. Ligins reports to you. It is not the other way around. 7 months later, look where we are. We are in the news every single day. We have been consumed by negative press, mounting frustration, and an absolute loss of trust. Parents who speak up are scolded by this board. Teachers are afraid to open their mouths for fear of retaliation. And ultimately, our students are the one who suffer. If you haven't figured it out by now, our community is absolutely disgusted with the so-called leadership of Dr. Ligins and Mr. Murphy. Today, Kentucky lawmakers called for both of your resignations. That should tell you that your authority, your integrity, your legitimacy, they are no longer recognized. But this didn't have to

093be the outcome. You had repeated opportunities to listen, to adjust your course, to interact with the community. You asked for feedback we provided, but instead you choose to override your obligations, disregard the public, and prioritize self-preservation over responsible stewardship. Pride comes before the fall, and your collapse is exactly what we're watching right now in real time. And let me be clear about how important I think public education is. I care so much about it that I'm here all the time meeting with y'all and I cannot let you take down Faget County Public Schools quietly. I'm not going to let you take them down with you. Shame on you. Thank you, Miss Preston. Our next speaker this evening is uh Don Don Verhovven. Donna. And then after Donna, we will have Rachel Buuser. I'm even shorter

094than the others. Um, I sent an email to you all today and I realized it was last minute, but I needed to put it on record. It addressed three areas that amounts to over $30 million. That is all part of the budget and your FY25 close that you're going to approve or not approve tonight. One includes the unanswered question of the $12 million deficit for special revenue and the 1.3 million for food service. I do not think the building fund is part of that. There was two questions left at the September 8th meeting. I've got to go quick here, don't I? Um, the unodudited financials submitted to Frankfurt reflected a accounts receivable of 12 million in the special fund. Is that legitimate? That's the question you all need to ask as a board before you

095approve FY25 closeout. And if it's legitimate, the question was, is general fund responsible? Let me let me answer that for you. Right in front of me, if I can find the exact paper. There it is. Um, the Kentucky public school district's audit requirements for fiscal year 2024 2025. I received these. I mean, I got this right off KD's site. It's there for all the schools to look at. It's like glaring. states the general fund shall doesn't say may says shall cover any negative balances in government funds defic uh deficients in enterprise/propy funds except for food service are not covered by general funds remember the scope of this audit in and it states all of those but again sake of time I can't um list um special revenue it lists all district activities ities. It's also

096a negative balance on there, but it's like 4,000 or something. It's not. So, yes, if that receivable is not valid, you all have another 12 million deficit. You definitely have it already in food service. That's 1.3. Let's get past that one. I've got to move on. Building fund in February, and this was addressed at September. In February, you all approved unknowingly, I know, $15 million transfer from building funds into general funds. Yes, there's language that allows that, but here's the language that does not allow that. Everything you read about it takes you back to KRS 157.420. KRS says if a survey shows that a school district has no capital outlay needs as shown in subsection 4A which includes direct payment of construction costs then they can just take that money and spend it on insurance

097replacement of equipment technology etc at their need. My time is up, but what I'm going to say is you all >> did not have you had capital outlay needs. You needed to replace 13 roofs from >> Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. >> Our next speaker this evening is Rachel Buer. And after uh Miss Buer, we'll have uh Matthew >> Vid. >> Okay. I'm back. Let's go on to the um uh building fun because this one first of all I'm going to say this is near and dear to my heart cuz 25 years ago I said I'd never been in front of the board meeting the last meeting. I had to fight the school district over a child who started kindergarten. My daughter who came home sick every day or either

098of y'all sent her home every day because the mode in her building at Mil Creek Elementary at the time. two years later, y'all finally agreed to move her and y'all spent millions to fix that building, but she was already behind in numerous subjects. So, yes, that hits home to me. So, back to what I was saying and where I was at. Um, in as I said, it shows KRS1. Sorry, I should have had my papers better. There it is. I'm using my three minutes standing here. KRS 57.40 says you have to if you have a survey that shows a school district has no capital outlay needs for district um improvements I'm sorry for the payment of construction that includes let's look at what the survey is your all's um policy board procedure and policy 5.2

0992 and do understand all of this is referenced in when you all approve um this transfer of 15 million they referenced it said even policy 5.2 to a survey is supposed to happen every year under the direction of superintendent Lian to determine at the school level any maintenance needs needed and it goes on to identify more I'm again I'm in addition to that you clearly have a district facility plan that identifies these needs the plan that was submitted in August of 2021 One lists 13 schools that need roofs and 12 schools that need HVACs. Guess how many of those were completed by the time the plan that was submitted just now in May of 2025 had been completed roofs. One maybe. Guess which one that was ranked a priority in 2021 has not been completed.

100Dunbar. Guess how many other ones if you look at any newspaper, even the schools newspapers that they issue talk about those roofs are falling in. Why? And how did you spend or decide you can transfer $15 million and say you had no capital needs? No capital needs. That is the only way you can transfer that is if you have no capital needs. I can show you. I mean, 13 roofs alone, 12 HVACs, you had capital needs, and you still have those same capital needs because your staff are continuing to move money's restricted for capital improvements to the general fund. There was more of it. I can't list. There's another four million that happened. >> Thank you for your time. Our next speaker this evening is uh Matthew Ve. We do have one yielder for six

101minutes. >> Okay. So that'll be nine minutes and after Mr. V then we'll have Heather Cherry. So Donna, I have a theory about the $15 million. I think when they when they asked for approval to transfer it, they knew they needed it bad to balance a general fund budget in 25. And I also think they knew that because they have this completely wrong definition of contingency fund, they thought they needed to get to stay above their 2% perhaps because they they had this $26.4 million contingency. So they they they're they're they're wiping their brow about being above the 2% because they have $26 million, but they don't have it. They have 26 in that general fund because they moved $15 million over. It's the only way they have $26 million in the general fund because

102they moved it over. Didn't spend it on roofs. They didn't spend it on HVAC. They moved it over to heal that budget, to fix that budget because it's in trouble. So I I I am guys I I am like shocked that that this the mun budget that is that is that is being approved tonight is the same one as two weeks ago >> because I'm I'm going to I mean guys you have altered this financial document and zeroed out a negative balance. So I'm going to do something new today. I I'm legitimately asking you to fact check me during my nine minutes. Wh where what happened to the $12 million? It is zeroed out. It is the ending balance for the special revenue fund. Negative $12 million and you move to the top of the

103special revenue fund for the next year. It is zero. Where did it go? I I I mean if I you can have seven minutes to answer the question. Mr. V, this is not intended to be a time for dialogue. You can use your time as you wish. >> Okay. So, so you're not going to answer. So, you're cowards. So, listen. $12 million. You've zeroed it out. You just zeroed it out. And you zeroed out $1.3 million for the building fund or sorry, for the food services fund. You just zeroed it out. Where where did it go? Where did it go? Please. I mean, legit. Seriously, when I'm done, when you move into the fact check portion of this of this meeting today, please explain to me where the $12 million went, where the $1.3 million

104went, because I'm I just just to reiterate at the bottom of your page, the ending balance for fiscal year 25 is 15,65,33.38. Ho how could it possibly be that the ending balance for one year is lower than the beginning balance for the next year? H how can that possibly be? I legitimately want you to fact check me on this because it is very very very important. The answer is very important because I I am making a very serious allegation here that you have altered financial documents and that you have zeroed out balances. It's very serious. Very serious. So, um, as far as as far as the contingency fund is concerned about your calculations, because I think what we're going to hear today is that you guys think you have about 4% 4.3% something like that.

105Um, but I'm just going to I'm just going to read you I'm going to read you your own policy because we've had multiple definitions from Dr. Barber about the contingency fund. I say it's 2% of total budget. That's the state law, the state minimum. The KDE says general fund plus food services. Two weeks ago, Dr. Barber said general fund plus food services minus on behalf. Completely madeup definition, but let's just let's just let's just read. Let's just read Faget County Schools policy. You ready? The total target amount of all five fund balances noted below shall be a minimum of 6% of total general fund expenditures. So the board policy is 6% of all five fund balances, a total of all five divided by general fund expenditures. Do you agree with that? I mean that's what

106it says in the policy. So, if you do that, the total of all five fund balances is $15.6 million. I mean, it's it's it's on your munus document. It's right there. It's 15.6 divided by $690 million is $2.26%. 2.26%. If if if you guys aren't nervous, I mean, if you are not nervous about having 2.26% 26% left in contingency. You ought to be. And here here here's why you ought to be nervous. Because this school district under the leadership of Dr. Ligins and his financial staff have consistently overspent their budgets by tens of millions of dollars. And so if they do it again this year, what happens? What what what happens if we keep up the trend of continue of consistently overspending the budget by tens of millions of dollars? What happens is is we

107run out of money. That is what happens. We run out of money. And so what and so I you know I want I I'd like to know so in in in next year's budget we've reduced the budget by like $40 million the expenditures you know actuals fiscal year 25 actuals versus fiscal fiscal year 26 expenditures the budget it's gone down by like $40 million. A bunch of that is in the special revenue fund. $18.9 million is in salary reductions in the special revenue fund. So, here's the question that the board should ask. Explain to me the reduction in force that has happened that is going to accomplish an $18 million reduction in salaries from the special revenue fund. Where's the reduction in force? Because how else are you going to do it? $18 million $18.9

108million in special revenue in salary reductions alone for special revenue. What is the what are the details of the reduction in force that has occurred to accomplish an $18.9 million reduction in salaries from the special revenue fund? Because if they can't answer it, if there is no reduction in force, we're going to overspend the budget and we're going to run out of money. That's what's going to happen. So, um, two minutes. Let's see. It's this your your only choice your only choice is this this board must take extreme ownership of the budget going I mean like you you guys need to get like weekly updates are we spending on track is spinning on track is spinning on track to the budget is spinning on track to the budget because you don't want them to run

109out of money and it's we are at extreme risk of that I mean I I I've said it before, I'm going to say it again. I I hope you guys understand the gravity of this situation because we are at risk of running out of money because this this this district has exhibited zero capability to stick to a budget. They have overspent it by that the the beginning balance two years ago was $92 million. 92. And now it's at 15. The you the board has to have take extreme ownership of the budget in the spending. Are we spending is our spending on track? And then it it it's just the the it's so disappointing the the comments that were made today about keeping the politics in Frankfurt and in Washington because I mean ti Mr. Murphy

110you you bring you bring politics in this room all the time. I'm just going to read I'm going to read a statement of yours from July 3rd. The final passage of HR1 is a gut punch to children, working families, public schools, and communities of all across our Commonwealth. And you could I could argue that that is a that's a legitimate issue in for this room. But then you go on to say that this budget bill gives handouts to billionaires. That that is a political statement. A political statement. U another one was about let's see about holding back holding back funds from um back in the summer about holding back funds. Uh we talk about the Trump administration is attempting to ignore the people's elected representatives. Politics. >> Thank you for your time, Mr. V. Our

111next speaker this evening is uh Heather Cherry. And after after Miss Cherry, we'll have Clark Williams. [Music] >> Hello. Um couple comments. One, I just wanted to piggyback off of the gentleman up here earlier that talked about the graduation rates and everything that was going on with the Faget County public schools. And I don't think anybody's talking about the graduation rates. I think it's just strictly financials that people are talking about. So I wanted to clarify that. But also I do have a problem with the numbers. I think that all the numbers for the schools are really low. And instead of addressing that, they just say you all say, "Well, we're more than a number now." So I do think there are problems with the school scores regardless of the graduation rates and we're which

112is good. But my other thing is really the reason I came up here is something that was on my mind was um about this budget till 2026. I don't know if that means this year or if it starts next year. I'm not really sure. But I I think that a lot of the programs and a lot of the things that you all did with this district was during a time when there was open borders. So, my concern was now that the borders are closed and you won't you may not have as many different nationalities coming. I'm not sure. I'm not saying they all come through the border, but you guys know what I mean about the different nationalities that are here. I even remember when Mr. Ligins, you were in front of the legislators. They

113asked about hiring like a thousand people and you all said you said well there was a thousand non-Englishspeaking children that had came. So all I'm saying to you is is to think about in the future is all these same programs and all the same needs that the school has right now may look different year after year coming since there's not as many different nationalities that may be coming to this district. regardless of what side you're on with that. The same my point my point is you do need to keep in mind the different programs because these same different nationalities and all the help that you're using to catch them up and all the money that you're spending may not be the same and more importantly your enrollment numbers. I've seen people talk about the enrollments

114down at this school. they losing two teachers, but this is going to affect this district whether it's this year or in two years from now that the enrollment may change then versus what it is now. So, just thought about that. Wanted to let you guys know to keep an eye on that when you're thinking about your budgets. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cherry. And our last speaker this uh for this portion of public comment, we do have um four, I believe it is, signed up to speak on matters that are not on the agenda. Five uh is Clark Williams. >> Good evening, Chairperson Murphy, members of this board. Um wanted to just come up and speak to what I've observed. Um there's a great deal of tension uh in this room and in this

115community. U sometimes tension is necessary in order for us to find solutions. Um I've heard some conversation some comment around collective bargaining. I'm one of those people who always agrees with collective bargaining. Um, there's also been a call for an extensive audit. Um, I have an auditing background way back in the earlier parts of my career and there's no doubt about it that an extensive audit is in order. I do also though want to say that we have not heard much. We've heard a little but we have not heard much about the academic successes and milestones that are being created in this district and they are not being celebrated enough because they are the most important thing. We always have to keep the main thing the main thing which is our students because they are

116certainly our future and our right now. There's no doubt about it that we have budgeting problems. every district perhaps in the whole nation as you read with funding uh drying up uh from sources that we have historically been able to count on them coming from every district public district in this nation is struggling with uh retooling, reshaping, figuring out its budget. Every district does not have the problematic reporting discrepancies, but every district has significant budgetary problems at this time. Again, an extensive external audit is needed. Um, an external uh budget in budgetary investigation around the processes and the operations there are going to happen. And so I just want to say to our board as well as to all that can hear, to those of us who are motivated by the successes of our kids

117and our young people, we have information that we need to await. We need to find out the outcomes of the audit, the outcomes of the investigation, and see where we are from there and make intelligent choices from there. But in the meantime, what we need more than anything is to work together. If our motivation is in fact our kids and we are the adults, we will work together to make sure that we do all that we can for the best outcomes for our children as we await information. Thank you. >> Thank you. And that uh concludes this portion of the public comment. As I said, we will hear from individuals who have signed up to speak on matters that are not in the agenda at the conclusion of the meeting. Next on our agenda is

118approval of routine matters. A motion is in order to approve the minutes of the September 8th, 2025 uh planning meeting of the Faget County Board of Education and the September 16th, 2025 special called meeting of the Fet County Board of Education. Is there a motion to that effect? >> So moved. >> Motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh second by board member Monday. All in favor of approving those minutes, please say I. >> I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. I'll now entertain a motion to approve our consent items as listed. Is there a motion? >> I move we approve the consent item consent items as listed. >> Motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer Christian. All in favor of the consent items. >> Ask

119a question about that. >> Bor Ferguson. >> Yeah. I mean, I did not asked to have it pulled, but just on the and I apologize for that, but on the professional leave, there are several on there where people are um paying their own way. It says staff funded or whatever it says, you know, personally funded. I guess my question is just really what what then is the board approving? Because that are we just approving their time off from work if if we're not approving an expense out of the district's money? Yes, it's their time away from work doing professional learning >> or professional. Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. >> All so the question is on the consent agenda. We have a motion and a second. All in favor,

120please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. And this time, I'll turn the agenda over to Superintendent Lian to take us through the remainder of our agenda. >> Thank you, Chair Murphy. Uh at our planning meeting uh we had uh Rodney Jackson present an un audited year-end financial report. I'll ask him to come forward at this time to answer any questions you might have about that this evening. any questions board members for Mr. Jackson? [Music] >> And this was the information we reviewed at the planning meeting, correct? >> Yes, sir. Yes, >> Ferguson. >> I just had a question on the Sorry, I'm trying to get the right document L13. It's the unaudited annual financial report where it shows the beginning balance for available budget. Um, it shows a negative number >>

121for what? For which one? Which fund? The available budget total 09.99 beginning balance year-to- date actual 432 available budget is negative 1.291 291 million can I mean I think I know what you're going to say but can you explain that it's uh >> again what page are you on >> sorry all these documents the first page of the 56page document so it's it's number three on your attachments unodudited annual financial report FY2025 >> it's on the first page under general fund Yeah, it's it's dated 82525 at the top. 1932. >> The AFR for fiscal year 2025. >> I'm saying look at the AFR again. >> I'm sorry. >> I'm looking at the AFR for June. You're talking as of June 30th, correct? >> No, it it says 82525 at the top. It's It's under unodited

122year and financial report L1 and it's the third attachment. Well, well, there's a cover and then there are five attachments. So, it's three. Unodited annual financial report. Again, it's 56 pages. It starts with the general fund. uh beginning balance was appropriated 42 million and then year-to- date actual 43.3 almost >> it's the very top line I think is that's the difference between what was budgeted as the beginning balance versus >> okay >> the year end audited beginning >> apologies that's what you're talking about >> yes that is but why >> yeah it's the very top line >> well this is um related to the 2425 here and >> why is the actual >> for when we discussed that at the time the $42 million was the number that was presented as to be budgeted but

123that can change as the year goes on related to the final final audit report. So when the final audit report came back in November is presented to the board the actual number was $43.2 $2 million. As stated previously, when you submit the information as unawudited, anytime between then and the end of the audit, which will be in November, that can change. That can go up or down. And it's a reflection of what going up. You had already approved the working budget with it being $42 million, but the change reflects what it actually was at the end of the year. >> I'm sorry, what? We already approved You'd approved the working budget in September. >> No, that's what we're doing. >> That last He's talking about his working budget. >> I'm not talking about this year.

124Last year. >> So, you're talking about last November >> because this is for fiscal year. The report you're looking for fiscal year 2025. >> So, I just wanted It's showing that we ended in a negative. No in revenue negatives is good. The year-to- date actual revenue was 43.2. It was budgeted at 42, >> right? >> It was $1.2 million more than what was budgeted. >> Okay. But the percent used is 103. >> Yes. This made it 3.07% more than the budget. >> So we spent more than was budgeted. >> You didn't spend that was money left over. Now >> this is this is the first page is the revenues. $42 million was budgeted for the beginning balance if I'm reading this correctly. Is that right? >> Yes. >> But the actual beginning balance was $43.2

125million. >> Correct. >> Which means we the beginning balance was $1.2 million more >> than what was budgeted. Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Any other questions, board members? Okay, if there are no further questions, I'll entertain a motion to approve the Faget County Public Schools final I'm sorry, the Faget County Public Schools unodudited year-end financial report as presented. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer Christian. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Uh motion carries. 32. Dr. Ligans. >> Thank you, board. Uh the next matter for your consideration is the 2526 fiscal year working budget, which is aligned with your strategic priorities, protects investments in the classroom, and

126is balanced without raising the occupational license tax rate. Uh we discussed this proposed budget in detail during the planning meeting, but you're welcome to ask any other questions this evening. We also have Rottney Jackson available for that and Houston Barber. Thank you. Um before handing over questions, one question I just want to ask right out of the gate is what level of confidence can the board have in the numbers presented um to ensure that we're not in a situation where the budgeted numbers are off on the actual numbers for the fiscal year 2026. >> Well, I can't speak to the specifics of the tendon budget. But for as for the working budget that I started with the July 1st, um the process we used to develop it was very thorough. We worked in collaboration with

127KDE to confirm a minimum contingency requirements. We also calculated salaries and benefit costs based on real-time data while accounting for vacancies within schools, departments, and utilizing trend data to protect additional expenses such as substitutes and overtime. We also looked at utility costs were estimated using forecasted data with factors such as rate increases included. Insurance costs were revised based on actual premium notices that were received in July. We also looked at SEK although we had projections of SEK being at 107. We looked further into it related to property assessment values. Um SARS report which is the superintendent annual attendance report ADA um sped counts and limited English proficiency. We also went through a cross processing I'm sorry cross departmental teams process include finance operation grants programming and academics to engage early into what we have across

128the board improving that collaboration we looked at grants funds we looked at CFRs and we also thoroughly evaluate any property that we potentially could sell um as I stated last month we also wanted to tighten financial monitoring and we agreed that we need to look at that more freent than we have in the past. So the process we want to do is starting after all the salaries and everything is in there by the end of October. Um we will start to go through a process where we will look at encumbered encumbered payroll which we've never did that before that will help us look to know where we actually going to end cuz in the past we focused on waiting until June 30th and all them paychecks cleared. >> We want to get away from that

129all together. We also going to minimize um drifts related to doing them reviews. So if we look in December for example and we see that salaries are outpacing in a particular area why is that happening is it under in another area and then we bring bring that to you and explain what we see at that time the board can make decisions whether we want to alter it or stay a course and go from there. Um we also revenue adjustments. We're looking revenue coming in. Hopefully we don't have anything that they say revenue can be delayed coming in based off of a tragedy or other event and revenue comes in accordingly. If we don't see it, we will find out why we're not seeing it and we'll address it accordingly at that time too. Again, crossart

130departmental work is very important. We cannot do this in silos. So, we got to work with operations. We got to work with the academic side. We got to work with grant programming. Everybody has to work together to see where we're at, where we're going. And again, we need to charge and talk to you, the board, and tell you where we're at so you can make informed decisions at that time. I think too just the as you know the gravity of the situation there was a lot more scrutiny on um variances and understanding what has transpired um especially the last several years and for that matter just understanding what we're really going through in terms of what has to happen for the factors moving forward uh to ensure that our variances are a lot um smaller

131>> also all these measures again are just to mitigate or minim minimize the risk of something. Anything can happen that we can't see at any time, but we got to have the ability to adjust accordingly to address those changes that may actually happen. Again, we want to go from, as I heard somebody say, being on our back heels to being on our front toes and dealing with situations and looking at on forefront instead of waiting to the end to see where we actually fall out. >> Thank you. Any questions, Bo members? >> Bo Christian, >> two questions. one, I'm asking you to uh to get out of crystal ball and foresee the future. So, you may not be able to answer um in terms of wiggle room, there's always unfunded mandates and situations that can

132pop in. Um in terms of this budget right now, will we be looking at again, you're foreseeing the future, will we will we possibly be looking at something that can impact us that we just don't see yet or that maybe we aren't positive? How? And the second question is this. the county has a lot of policies and I'm not going to ask you right now because you can't just spit them out at me as a board. I'm asking, are there policies in place right now that you think we need to look at, revisit, update, whatever, so that we mitigate this, and that when we move forward, we understand that some of this was based on, I'll say it, poor policy making, right, and procedures. >> I don't necessarily say it's a policy in place, but

133I do think there's some processes that we need to look at differently. Um, one of the things that I noticed immediately is that fund balance had to be considered when it was being the budget was being built. So when we started building this budget, one of the things I said is that we can have an any option on and saying when we set a number, we got to build upon that number. So if it's 27 million, we built the budget based on not touching that 27 million, not going in with the thought process. that if something goes wrong, we automatically going to go into the fund balance or that's how we going to make the gap fixed. We got to put oursel in a position going forward that we need to hold me steady and

134get that 27 million through this year and then figure out how we can start to go forward. If we don't do that, it's going to keep on having a decline and going down. And that's not a place we want to be in. Um, as large as F County Schools is and the things that we need to do, we cannot sit back and be passive on this because 2%, yes, that is what the state recommends. 2% is not enough. Just being honest. September is one of the lowest months we're going to ever have in the school district, in any school district. You hear people talking about taking loans and so forth. We don't need a loan. We have cash. That's not the issue. But it is our expenses will exceed our revenues drastically by the time

135we get to de September. Now will that revert in October? Absolutely it will because that's when property taxes start to come in in 85 million or so range. But it's a reality that school district the way the funding works and the cyclical nature of school finance that July, August, and September are our lowest months because we only have SEK dollars. In October, November, December, and January, we start to give property tax dollars. And then in August, that's when you start to see occupational license tax dollars to go through June. So to answer your question, necess necessarily say we have to have a policy, but we do need to rethink things. We need to rethink how we operate July through August should we not have operational expenses at that time and only salaries. We cannot operate

136the way we have and keep on getting the results we have been getting lately. And and it wasn't my charge then but it is my charge now unless the superintendent changes that being my charge at any time. And so the way I approach it would be completely different has been approached in the past. I I also think um we can't absorb things like we may have in the past. Um you can't stack on um without looking at um where we are. Um and then also some critical things to think about from policy and procedure is staffing and we are going to have to review it and just think about what we're doing and being more efficient and effective in how we staff. Um and that's at all levels and I do think that's a critical

137um review. >> Yes, I have a question. >> Former first. >> Well, several Mr. Jackson, I think you just said we've got to get where we we set aside that 27 million 26.3 million and say, you know, we can't rely on using that. We've got to say we're not going to touch that. >> Correct. >> I completely agree. Did we touch that in the fiscal year 25 budget? >> Did we touch the what was the contingency that was there? >> Yes, we did. >> By how much? >> Doing quick math. >> And I'm sorry if you don't know off the top. >> 15 million or so. 15 million or so. >> Okay. And then I' I'd have a couple of questions just back to Mr. Read's public comment because he was not allowed to engage.

138Um he is my constituent and I I get asked these regularly. Um and I I did print out the it's not policy. So we were corrected. It's administrative procedure 04.31 AP.21. I mean have you read that? >> Yes, I have. >> And and what is your interpretation? the total target amount of all five fund balances noted below. I'm not sure where they're noted, but I mean I think we would agree what the five >> all five fund balances are. The the five major funds. >> I disagree. Let me tell you why I disagree. >> But why does it say all five fund balances be a minimum of 6% of total general fund expenditures? >> Mr. Jackson, >> it's characterized. The way it's characterized when it met fund balance is I can't think which gazatsby it

139is but you have five categories as unrestricted >> 54 I think it says >> okay >> be 54 >> unrestricted restricted assigned um there's two other ones um with an end but there's five different categories and in five different categories is what that was meant to be not different funds. Fund one through other funds. So that's why I disagree with that. >> Well, and I think we were told that we were going to be asked >> non-spendable. That's the other one. I'm sorry. With the N. The N is non-spendable. >> Okay. I mean, I think we were told that we were going to be asked to wave either policy or procedure. And I assume it would be a waving of this. It's definitely not clear. I mean, it says the total target amount of all

140five fund balances and knowing that we have five general one. That's the way I would read it. I I couldn't find where it then goes to because of the way this is listed on the on the website. It's in sections and you can't scroll to the next section. It is confusing. So, um I mean it does mention Gazsby 54 which means nothing to me and everything to you. But, um I think we definitely need to change that if if we're going to look at that. If we're going to look at waving whatever we need to wave, >> I agree the administrative procedure probably needs to be updated to be very clear so everybody understands what that means. But the intent was the Gatsby 54, not various funds that we have. >> And my understanding is

141we do have guidance from KDE specific to our situation. Is that correct? That >> I think that was shared with the board >> at one point. Um >> yes, it was. And it I mean and and it to some people it disagrees with what the statute says, but then our policy says yet another thing. It's very confusing. Um another question I had um I guess what are we Oh no on the back to Mr. Be's questions the the zeroing out. Um I assume you know what he's talking about that in the >> Yes, I understand what he was talking about. >> Munis at the at the very bottom of the Munice budget page 23 that fund one is 26 million in the positive. >> Fund 310 3.8 million. There are three that are in the

142positive and two are in the negative which then when you look at the very bottom grand total of revenues minus grand total of expenditures leaves 15605. And I mean, is that the cash we had on hand at the end of the year or not? What whatever you call it. >> That's not cash. >> Well, money on >> Yeah. No, that's not cash. So, um the $12 million in fund for example, let's start with that. So, grants are reimburseable funds for the So, usually you spend it then you get it back. That's first part. Second part is I would have to look it up to tell you exactly what the process is so you can formalize it. You can read it but in year end close for fund two which is grants fund 22 and 25

143there's a zero out process. You either defer if you are above or acrew the revenue through accounts receivable if you are to zero it out. And that's a natural process that happens in every school district. This is not just a big accounting thing. It is zeroed out that way. But if the cash in fund two is in the negative, then what has to happen is the receivable is put into place in fund one. And then a payable is put in place for fund two, which is the um grants. And in doing so, the cash is is zero out in fund two to make that $0. And the cash in fund one is lowered because you have to cover it. That process has to take place. We don't have no ifs, ands, buts about it. That's

144just what we have to do [Music] because the information I mean the the interim joint committee on education meeting last Tuesday in Frankfurt has been mentioned a couple of times. the information that was presented there that the district failed to present but Senator West requested has I mean and this is from the OEA information shows general fund ending balance 14 million8 almost 14.9 million >> yes and I can I can answer that too ma'am so we are required to submit to KDE by July the 25th an unit annual financial report that is way before anything has been adjusted related to revenues and expenses that have occurred during the year. We've done this every single year that way and send it out. Then by August 31st, we're required to put something in the news to state

145and put our information out there with the fund balances and so forth. So as we go through our process of the end of mid to late August of any revenues and expenses and acrruals enter that that gives us a better number. So the number that I put on the web usually is that number the time framing that we changed the board meeting this year to so early in August. It disrupted our process. I mean I don't know what better way to say it. It's not your fault. I'm just saying it just disrupted our process and how we have to do things. um we're working up under stricter timelines um to get things done and in doing so it is difficult to do it in a time frame with trying to stick to no overtime and

146do other things just being totally transparent and honest >> but >> no I I mean I appreciate that I've always said that the calendar for the school district budgets is terrible >> yeah and the way school district budgets are set up it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen even though I have a history of doing is, you know, so again, that's what they looked at. They looked at what was submitted to KDE. But if you look at the other statement and the document that they submitted to the superintendent that he brought back that I was able to review, it was a statement on one of them that said very clearly that this is unawited and there's approvals and information has to take place related to it before it's final. And the final will be what

147you see in in November. Yeah, there is a footnote on that document that was shared by the committee that says 2025 unodudited AFR dated KDE July 21st. >> Well, and it it it would have been helpful to have Mr. Jackson there to explain that. Uh you said that's submitted every year. Is that something that was submitted out of your financial services office or out of the budget services office? Because you they were separate before you took over this role. >> The AFR submitted out of my office. Okay. And then I just had a general question about the I mean I asked previously and and no one seems to know and maybe this information will come out but it was troubling to me that the budget that was voted on the tenative budget that was voted

148on at the May board meeting is not the same budget that was submitted to KDE which was which was why when we asked to table the tax and and take a later vote no we have to get it into KDE. E and there's there's a different number. I think it's seven or $17 million difference. And Dr. Barbara said he didn't know because he didn't submit that. No one seems to know. I guess my question tonight is are is the board voting on the 24-page document that is the working budget in Munis or are we voting on the colorful presentation? >> It should be the working document in Munis. >> Okay. So, and also this says um train at the top. Uh this munus am my understanding that's like in a training mode for using munus.

149Is that typical the way to do it and after the board votes it'll be finalized? Is that how that works? >> Yes. Um so what was done this year is to put it in a different format for you to see and we had to do it in a training because we can't do it in live until the board actually approves it. >> Okay. That's what I was asking. I mean, and and again, I think I said before, I I appreciate the budget in in Munas document. I've in all the cycles I've been through, I've never seen it in Mun, so it's it it makes it a lot easier to read. >> I think that's all for now. Thank you. >> Board member Monday. Um, I appreciate everything that you guys have done leading up to

150this to try to make sure that some of the procedures are different as we move forward. Um, it's unfortunate that, you know, um, we don't have more answers as to, you know, where the contingency was spent and and things of that nature. And I will say, um, I've been at a bit of a crossroads. um as we've been leading up to this budget um and voting for this working budget um because I can't shake the process that it's been to get here um and I've asked questions along the way um that haven't always been um addressed or embraced in a way that um is one to spark conversation. Um, but one that's more dismissive and that's not um for you guys sitting here in front of us today. Um, but if it's not been an

151easy process for me as a board member, um, then it definitely hasn't been an easy process for um, you guys, for our community, and you know, the people that it matters for the most, which is, you know, our students. um teachers, our staff. Um and so as we move forward um from today, I hope that we can have those open, honest conversations as a board. I hope that all five of us can be involved in those conversations to truly have an understanding of how we got here today and why we are making the choices to do things a little bit differently to make sure that we don't end up in this same spot. Um that we're in in this very moment. Um so thank you for entertaining that um comment. I did uh want to

152ask another question. And so I'd asked for um a detailed list of reductions um in their corresponding amounts. That was something that we got for the tenative budget. That was pretty helpful when kind of taking a look at that budget um and truly understanding how the decision we were making was actually impacting our schools, our students, um our district as a whole. Are we going to be still getting that document? >> Uh, you should have received that document already. I sent it, >> Miss Monday. You should have that document in fiscal 26 working budget adjustments. I see that shared with you. >> And where was it shared? Via email. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So, we got it on Sunday. Okay. Um, >> I I didn't see that either. I I know it's something that

153I've said multiple times. Um, I don't know what time we got it on Sunday. Um, just overall we've we've got to do things a little differently. I think something that important when the reductions that are in the current budget are vastly more than what they were for the tenative budget. Um it should have been something that we took a look at well before Sunday. Um that's all. >> Thank you uh Bor Green. >> Thank you Chair Murphy. Um, so I want to start off by saying thank you for everybody for their honesty, for their um, sharing their hardships, for sharing the triumphs and the struggles all the way through this process. Um, change is difficult, but I think we can always grow and become better from that. So I just would like to acknowledge everybody

154that is here and willing to be a part of the solution and those that do not have the privilege to be with us, but are also willing to be part of the solution. Um, and that includes our students who have volunteered time, our staff, our families, our community. We serve over 330,000 people here in Lexington and Fyet County. Um, we've heard unequivocally how important public schools is to everybody here. It doesn't matter who you are, but I think I'm so proud of Lexington and Fyet County because we understand that the basis of our society and our functioning here begins with our investments in our most precious resource, which is our students. I I do want to take a moment just to say and this has been sitting with me through this whole budget process. Um

155serving as a board, we are we are servant leaders. We are here to serve you to provide the best for our children because then that will provide for our future, right? We all want to endure and that's a goal every human has. How do we create an enduring legacy? And so providing for our students does that for all of us and I think we acknowledge that. But as leaders, it is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in our charge. And I think all of us in this room have stepped up. So you can all and those listening as well and that don't have the privilege to be here. I consider every adult in Fyet County to be a leader because we are charged with taking care of our children.

156So I ask going forward that we continue to be a part of a solution that we continue to work together as we've had we've heard tonight. Um, and we continue to be kind because the way that we behave, our our students are learning, they are watching, we see what they're saying about it. And so I just asked that. So, thank you for the privilege of that comment. And to the point of taking care of those in charge, my question for Dr. Ligins and your team is how confident are you that this proposed budget meets those aligned priorities um outlined in the strategic plan and that with the reductions that we have seen are we going to miss any mark of providing for the students who wants that Dr. >> Absolutely. Um, thank you. That is

157actually the challenge we've had with balancing the budget is to make sure that we are doing all that we can to protect the classroom and protect exactly what's happening there, what matters most. Uh there has been several things and we continue to really scrutinize every single um line and amount as to what's actually coming out of it. Uh what I can share is that it will we have protected the classroom at all costs to make sure that um our teachers and our our campuses quite frankly are experiencing very little change in how they operate. I cannot say with full confidence that some of the other things that are having to be cut will not have an indirect um there there's folks and systems and things in place that are in place to support those people

158that have been minimized. It's putting um more on um on others plates. And so we will certainly make sure that we are constantly looking at that, reviewing that and ensuring that our campuses and teachers are getting all the support they need. Um, and that they have see no difference from their campus budgets. But as far as personnel, as far as some of the supports that had been in place, some of those things have been been cut in order to balance this budget. And so we try to use a scapel of course and not a any other um type of tool to to get at that point. But I can't say that that there won't be things that won't be noticed. But we are certainly uh doing our best to make sure that uh we're impacting

159student achievement very very uh and what's happening in the classroom very very little. >> Thank you. And chair Murphy if I may have. >> Uh thank you. So I know uh Mr. Jackson, we had talked last meeting at length about the monthly reviews that we'll see once November hits and kind of looking at the actuals compared to the budget and really having that real-time in-depth conversation that I think the entire board is excited about. To that point about academic services, can we also incorporate that into the conversation that if we see an actual is coming in higher than the projected budget, if that would impact services and have that real-time conversation as well, not siloing budget and numbers and the services that we provide to the students, but if there is an overlap and an

160impact, if we can incorporate that as well. >> Yes. I mean, I think that's the way we're going to get to where we need to get to. We have to sit there and look at where we are and what's our goal. Again, the goal that I've set and I sat down with Dr. Barber, we had a conversation is that we cannot build this budget knowing that on the front end we're going to touch fund balance. That's not a good way to do this. We got to build with fund balance being where the minimum is and we go upward. So everything we put into place is designed to try to make sure that we do not touch the $27 million. >> Thank you. >> I think too the other thing just to um for point of

161record the MUNS budget we're going to start really bringing to the forefront more times so you can see it percent used. But of course we know revenues come in and fluctuate but just especially as it relates to expenditures. So you can see that um and just making sure that you have evidence right in front of you real time. um and see that more often >> as we think about the timeline uh you know in May um the board faced the uh dilemma where we were told you know based on the priorities that the board has established and the revenue picture there's a gap of $16 million right between what uh what those investments would cost and the revenue that would come in. Um and so then that presented, you know, two scenarios, a cutting cost

162or increasing revenue. So, as you look at the working budget and then the accounting of the fiscal year 2025, um have those dollars been can we say here tonight that those dollars have been accounted for and that has been baked into uh the fiscal year 26 budget as well as the fiscical year 25 of accounting statement. And I know that we're still waiting the audit, so these are unodudited reports, but but has all of that been accounted for as we sit here? >> Well, let me start with the $16 million. The $16 million was an anticipated budget shortfall. There's no missing money of $16 million. It was something that said if we do everything that the board has said they want to do and keep moving forward, we will be $16 million short. So, there's

163never $16 million missing money. That was said several times earlier. That was completely inaccurate. There's no missing $16 million. That was a projection based off of what was anticipated to be spent that um tonight is being presented as a balanced budget. That was the original conversation that came up with additional revenue and all of that. So, um and as far as the um contingency and fund balance, I can let you speak to that, Mr. Jackson. Well, the contingency fund balance again we verify with KDE to make sure we're getting that right. The calculation where we need to be and go from there and administrative procedure that we have um as a board and superintendent it basically states how do you get there back there within 3 years. So as a plan has to be put

164in place to get to where we have to be in three years related to that and that's going to involve all of us. Will it be easy? No. I'm going to sit there and look you in your face and tell you it's going to be easy because it will not be. There will be sacrifices made, things we have to do to get there. But with a true understanding what the north star is, we focus on that which should be the kids and nothing else we can get there. >> And on the procedure relating to the contingency is what are the steps the board needs to take as it relates to that procedure being in place. So if we adopt a budget that has a an approximately 4% contingency, is the approval of that budget considered

165us meeting the obligations of that procedure? Do we need to take a separate action uh tonight? >> I don't think you need to take a separate action, but I think it needs to be superintendent has to submit a plan to where how he's going to get there. And at that point, you as a board may want to vote that in and say this is the plan we agree to get there to get back to the uh 6% or um how you want to handle it, but I don't think it's just a plan has to be identified that you all are informed of that's going to get you there. >> Thank you. >> But you agree that we're below the 6% right now. >> Yes, we are. >> And and when I asked you the amount

166that's from the I'm sorry, I've looked at this so much. the 42 to the 26. You said it was 15 or 16 that had been dipped into. >> Yeah. So, the let's back up. So, the true fund balance or the true 6% is more in the 31 $32 million range. But again, I will sit there and tell you related to how our revenues and expenses flow J July, August, and September. I really don't even think that's enough. >> Oh, I definitely don't. I agree with you >> because >> especially from 92 million. >> Yeah. >> Whatever it is now, 26 or 27 >> because again July, August, September are going to be July and August are okay, but September is always going to be our lowest month. Expenses will outpace revenue. It's just the the

167cyclical event that happens. If you look across school districts across the state, they're all going through this. But we do not need a loan. We do have cash, but it is a low point. And to avoid ever having a low point in September, that 6% is not going to get us there. The true 6% being 31.5, but it is a starting point to go. >> And you said that contingency funds were spent. And fair enough, you didn't know the exact amount. Does that does that mean money was transferred out of a contingency code in Munice to the general fund? >> No, there was nothing actually transferred out of the contingency code. Um the expenses exceeded the revenue in a way that it went below that that targeted amount. >> Well, did someone have to authorize

168that expense? >> I mean, I'm told schools have to do the same. each school principal is a is a budget manager and that >> you know they have to have a contingency also and that the the bookkeeper at the school even if the principal wants to spend $5 out of her contingency she has to get approval the bookkeeper has to sign off on that approval in Munas or whatever system she uses I don't know if she uses MUNS I'm just trying do we know who authorized that those expenditures out of the contingency fund. >> I think there's a couple things that work. Um, salaries, there was a $12 million variance in salaries. So, let's be clear. Salaries are paid out throughout the year. And you see a lot more of the salaries come out, especially

169in June time because the last four payments, 8 million of that was for special ed services, 8.8 to be exact. We're not putting this on the backs of our special ed students. What we're saying is that it cost us an additional 8.8. Those salaries are rolling and have to pay out. The other part of this is that as you mentioned, >> they always are. >> Correct. >> Always the case. >> Correct. And retire but retirement um came at the last minute and there were some other factors that came in. And so I think what what you're looking for is a control factor. You're absolutely right. There needs to be better controls throughout, but there's also things that happen at the very end that cause this uh movement. And I add to that. So again, having

170these marks set, looking in December, how we looked all the way through November, looking again in March or just doing every month starting December, how the board wants to do it to look at it because again, what I see when I look at the historical information going into it, there's been flags to sit there and say this is how we need to look at it. This was the what was budgeted. we spent this much above the budget. Why was there not an allocation made or a change made how we budgeted that year related to that? So these are things that we're going to look at now to make them changes in real time. If we budgeting an item and there's no expenses whatsoever against say why are we budgeting that item? We budgeting something too

171low then we need to make that adjustment accordingly so we know where we actually stand. I mean, I don't know what better way to say it except that this is how I'd see moving forward. >> Well, I agree and I some may disagree and I I promise I really don't want to make this about me, but I've had concerns about this budget for the last two years and I would appreciate and a previous board member did as well. And I would appreciate not being told that I'm making ridiculous accusations when I say that I have concerns about the budget. I'm an elected board member and I represent the same number of constituents everybody else here does. I was told I was playing games and making ridiculous accusations. I have another question on the email that

172we got on Sunday about personnel reductions. It's 4.3 million. I think that's the one we got Dr. Mundy on Sunday, yesterday. Are are these were these all not filled or were these positions eliminated? They're like 15 bus monitors on here, chief public engagement officer, director of communications. Those are the high highriced ones. Assistant superintendent, academic services. Were those just not filled? Were those positions cut? I mean I had asked for looking at either reduction in force or furlows and and it sounds like that you did look at that Dr. Leanszi you sent an email explaining that. So what are these positions what happened with these positions that allowed us to cut 4.3 million? >> Uh it's a mixture of both cut and unfilled. And I just wanted to say in terms of information or questions

173that haven't been answered, I still haven't gotten an explanation of why there are two different tenative budgets. One that was approved by the board, one that was sent to KDE that I had to ask KDE for in an open records request. Um a list of all the positions with names and salaries in this building that I I have and previous board member Jones have asked for for more than two years. still have not seen that and have not seen a list of district level positions that were originally under ESSER that were then moved to the general fund. And I still contend that is the the biggest um problem that we have with with budgeting is that all these positions were created with one-time funds and we told schools not to do it, but we did

174it here and now we have all these administrators in this building. [Applause] Can we review the reductions that have happened at this level at the district level? >> Um would you like me to do that? >> Sure. Yeah. >> Okay. Um the variance to the tenative budget we made changes um based on scrutiny and better understanding. So there was a a $15 million difference or 15.6 in the working from the tenative of the working budget for the beginning balance. Southside um we made a more realistic number for revenue at 4 million. Um motor vehicle um variance is uh up just slightly. Um the delinquent and omitted property taxes up. Capital outlay funds transfers the same basically um seek adjustment um actually I'm sorry capital outlay funds transfers up seek adjustment we made a reduction just

175based on recent data from KDE and SARS reports obviously the OOLT that was built in was reduced um by the 17 million and then um miscellaneous revenue had a small adjustment um contingency was was for expense side was changed to 27 million. Um you had carry forward POS that are required as part of rolled into the new year. Um we had a preschool grant increase. Um there were rise startup costs that were covering for when the opening of new rise. Um retirement fees, there was a a variance we wanted to make sure we covered there. And working budget cleanup um adjustments. Travel PD was um we took out 582,169. Um additional district level reductions, we did over a million. Um overtime reduction and program reduction, acred sick leave. Um we felt like there was needed

176an adjustment there based on historical analysis. Um grow your own was moved to title two. Salary true up which has not been in there in the past. This is an important point to ensure that we hit some of that variance that we've been off um is also in the budget and that's based on actuals and with our reductions in positions and attrition we've been able to marketkedly be closer. Um but we definitely want to have salary true up. So that's over 2.3 million. Um some of the preschool transportation portion we found we discovered we could move to title one um to save the budget. Um we moved our CCR coaches to layback grant uh five of them and we are working on how we're doing our subs being more um proficient and efficient in how

177that's working. Um, we also u were able to because of allowable expenses on house from house bill 678, we can move some of those expenses off onto our CFR um with the building fund. Um insurance obviously is something um we have been trying to o overinflate but we felt like we we can hit the mark here. And district level vacancy reductions. We did a lot of district level vacancy reductions um just based on froze free fro freezing positions. So >> and that that amounts to about 4 million right those that document that was shared with us on the 18th where >> when you combine it but that's about 2.6 just on the freezing positions. >> Okay. Very good. >> Can we post the personnel cost savings publicly just so people can see that as well

178>> to be transparent? >> Yes ma'am. Thank you. >> And and in a and that's a good segue to one point I was going to make as well and and we've talked about this before. It came up at the planning meeting, I believe. You know, I appreciate the desire to improve processes. Um and you know, no one uh in this room wants to be in a similar situation that we've been in. Um and as we look at moving forward and improving the processes, improving the communication with um budget accounting and so forth, having more regular updates for the board um to look at those comparisons. Um I also think it would be helpful to look at the public facing uh communications as well. What information is being uh what information is being shared? ensuring that

179not just that the information is out there but it's also uh we help our community digest it. uh because you know as someone who's been on site base, been on the board, no immunist reports can make your eyes glaze over readily. And so there's one thing of just posting those online uh but also making sure that we're communicating with the community with our media partners um and and providing some insight into what does this mean um as we go forward uh ideally on a on a month-to-month basis, right? that way. So, we're not here at the end of the fiscal year trying to explain everything that unfolded uh in the year before. Um the other question I have and and you've gone over some of this, you know, we have explanations for okay, these are

180the things that overran on the budget. Um and I asked this question earlier. It's worth uh in in one way, but it's worth reiterating in another way. So, we've accounted in the budget that we're being presented with tonight. We're we've accounted for the things that were uh for lack of a better term, surprises or that came in way over what was anticipated. We have accounted for those in this working budget. Is that correct? >> Yes. As as salaries and fringes will always be the biggest part. And so again, if you see the reports that was turned in, salary infringes were definitely areas that we went over. We doing a better predictive analysis of related to that. Um been working directly with the budget and financial planning office related to how we get these numbers as

181HR finishes putting everybody related to their years of experience and um certifications and we know what that true number is. We won't see that until again probably September, October according to um Chief uh Miss Dyer. And so once we see them that information, we know what that is. Then we can start looking at okay, if we encumber payrolls, what would that look like? How much of each payroll is being pulled off each time that a check comes instead of waiting to the end of the year. >> Also doing a better job of dealing with stipens. Yes. I mean, in the past, people can hold them stipens. Let's just being very transparent. they hold up the stipens to for Black Friday, Christmas >> or spring break the summer and they come in real late and then

182we got to pay all these stipens out and we weren't expecting that to happen. >> So, putting some stipulations in on the front end about the timeliness of turning in paperwork to help us have better information to make decisions is always going to be important. >> Yeah. and we're just taking multiple pieces of data because we recognize there's no more um we can't just say this is a prize or this is something we didn't recognize for example the 20 to 25 year uh teacher veterans coming in. We know that's happening. >> We have to predict for it and we can't um be surprised by it. Chair >> Murphy. >> Um, speaking of communication, one piece that I think we probably need to communicate better are board priorities. I think we talk about board priorities, but

183some of those board priorities are integral for our students learning like dual credit. And then there were some board priorities that I wasn't aware were board priorities, but have been shared as board priorities. Um, I don't even recall us voting on what those may or may not be. Um, and when we looked at the budget, I think back in May, um, we were told that, you know, eight there had already been the 8 million reduction. The 16 million needed to be reduced, but the board priorities only totaled about 8 million. So, they were never going to cover the 16 million that we were falling short. And like I said, some of those board priorities are pretty important for our students to really be able to play on that global playing field. Um, and so just

184thinking about what those are and how we communicate those with the public moving forward, um, is probably we should put that on that list if we're talking about thinking how we communicate the budget moving forward. >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> Green. >> Thank you. I just have one and it's probably more of a process or procedure for the board and so uh Mr. Jackson shared about asking for the superintendent to come back with a plan and so I just don't know what the board's role is in that. >> My suggestion if you're a min if everyone's amenable to it would be um including that in part of the motion language when we adopt the working budget. um if that is something you're amendable to and if the board's amendable to and again this

185is an ongoing discussion um this is not going to be a situation where we approve or not approve the working budget tonight and then no one talks about the budget again uh you know we have uh pending external reviews uh the board met last week and voted unanimously to ask our audit committee who are the experts in finance to look at the objectives of the board which is to to get to the bottom of everything that has happened and recommend whatever audit review analysis investigation that you all think in your professional opinion needs to be done. Um our audit committee has that information they have that charge and those objectives um and they will be meeting to discuss that and uh we'll rely on their expertise and await uh their insight. Um, so I think

186everyone is united in wanting to find out how can we improve processes, but not just looking back, but also looking forward, using that information to improve moving forward. I appreciate what you've already said tonight about things that you've identified for improvement, how you can improve that communication with the board um so the board um is aware in real time as these uh numbers change or as the budget needs to make adjustments as we move through the next fiscal year. So, um I think those are all important considerations and we'll be prepared to act uh when we get more information. Um just as we've acted with the information we do have and have already made adjustments, uh we need to be prepared to make similar adjustments moving forward. Okay. If there are no further questions, I'll

187entertain a motion to approve the Faget County Public Schools final working budget for the 2526 fiscal year uh with the uh request that the the superintendent present to the board of education a plan for restoring the fund balance to I'm sorry with the plan to restoring the contingency to 6%. Is there a motion to that effect? >> So moved. >> Motion by Bor Green. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer. Uh Christian, the question is on approving the Faget County Public Schools final working budget for the fiscal year 2526 with the request that the superintendent report back to the board a plan to restore the contingency to 6%. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Motion carries 32. Dr. Ligins. Thank you very much. Our final two

188action items this evening are the fun uh monthly financial reports for July and August. At this time, I'll turn the meeting back over to Rodney. This is the monthly report for the month of July 2025. Next slide, please. Um we made the updates as y'all suggested during the last meeting of things y'all would like to see in the monthly financial report. So this is what you will see and again as we get further into this and we get more information we'll make additional changes and go for but the portrait graduate is what we are about. Next slid slide please. Under strategic priorities of course the biggest part of this will come related to organizational health and effectiveness. Thank you sir. So we what we discussed is talking about showing total revenues and expenses compared to

189the expenses in the previous year and also sharing a carry forward balance that was reflected with the incumbrances. This is what's reflected here showing 9% last year related to budget revenue. A lot had to do with the beginning balance being more versus 6% this year and 2% for both expenses. >> Mr. Jackson, >> yes, >> can you go back one slide and ask a real quick question? >> Thank you. Um, so right now it has comparison to the tenative budget. Will that column, that third column change to be a working budget comparison after >> in um September? >> In September. Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Any >> and actually >> go ahead. >> Um since the board approves it now in September, information will already be in there. So it'll show up that way

190in November for reflecting everything happened after that date. This again shows that in 2024 is 58.8 million versus 45.4 million graphically. Taking out the beginning balance you see that last year um is lower because it was a larger beginning balance. So we take it out but reflecting that difference shows 16.7 versus 19 million and $2.3 million difference. the expenses 15 million last year versus 16 million this year. Again, it's un audited. Breaking down further showing all the different tax categories and revenue sources that we have um versus what we actually had come in and there will be several changes to this again when the working budgets change because again we know for example SEK is too high. We will make that change accordingly but it reflects $45.4 million expenses. Um, I thought it was better

191to use this so we don't have to lump it in together as Dr. Monday did that. She wanted to make sure every category and understood it. So I broken out strictly to show it as they are instruction, student support, district admin support, school administrative, transportation, and so forth. And expenditures being $16.4 million. the safety tax. Um, we will we'll start to see that coming in soon. That'd be the first thing that we book. Um, but expenses to date, you already seen we already spent $558,000. >> Are there any questions of concerns? Any questions? Board members >> I just want to share my appreciation for the adjustment to the presentation. and it really helps kind of follow along and I think we'll really appreciate seeing that every month in the various as the different areas. So,

192thank you. >> I agree. I appreciate you soliciting our feedback at the planning meeting and then incorporating that as we move forward. If there are no further questions, I'll entertain a motion to accept the monthly treasures report for July as presented. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second. Second by Bor Christian. All in favor of approving the monthly treasures report for July say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Motion carries 32. And now we'll have August. >> Again, this portrait of a graduate and strategic priorities organizational health and effectiveness is where we lie. Showing total revenue 62.8 8 or 66 million this year, 39.6 expenses and 44 million this year and incumbrances related. Again, comparing everything 60.8 versus 66, which is

193$3.2 million higher. Beginning balance coming out also shows a difference of last year versus this year is about $19.7 million. Expenses 39.6 versus 44 is $4.4 million difference. Again, breaking out the taxes and um other revenue here reflects $66.9 million. expenses broken out by function showing expenses of $44 million. As you can see, expenses for the safety taxes increased. We're at $1.7 million and $17.6 million remain and with 9% spent. Additional information, I would like to report tax levy information has been successfully processed and submitted as required to all applicable stakeholders. safety tax revenue will be processed and recorded first. As a reminder, we're working on on how to include overall safety costs outside of tax led that to future budget reports. So, most likely you will see is at the bottom will be a

194note abundance safety tax. the additional general fund taxes uh general excuse me the additional general fund expenses that have been added um again once all staff expenses been process added by the end of October we will start analyzing and following the incumbrance and using as checks to impact the budget we're also investigating installing alerts to budget managers via email related to their budget so they know their status going forward also now that all the crews have been done um we'll be person those out so that's posted accordingly and you will see that in September reflected and so there again as I stated earlier in September will be very different because expenses will be exceeding revenue and how that all flows are there any questions or concerns questions board members chair >> Murphy board Christian >>

195and um Mr. Jackson this this may be a Dr. Ligan's question as well, but I'm looking at the safety tax and um we're 10 years in and uh is there are do you have any plans to re-evaluate the safety t the 10 points right those 10 areas and we know that some of this has bled over into the general fund. We we realize that because everything couldn't be covered. Is there anything that we should consider in the future looking at that maybe we drop it from 10? I'm not saying we should or shouldn't. I'm just wondering if that's anywhere in your purview. >> I think it was last year or year before where we did meet to look at the 10 points, see where we were to evaluate um how we had progressed with those.

196there. Um was very clear from the committee as well as the community that it was that these are very viable options and still very much what is wanted and needed uh for our schools to remain safe or safer. And so um there are some ways we can implement some things differently that we're looking at. um not necessarily eliminate anything but um look at the implementation and how that will possibly impact cost without impacting safety. Thank you. And I do appreciate you including this because I it came up the information about the safety tax levy because that came up also in our planning meeting discussion where that's another drain, right? the safety tax revenue is not covering the cost of the 10point to implement the 10point safety plan. And that that is though a community priority.

197Um, and it's something we want to continue because one of the things that stood out to me, uh, and one of the reasons why I so appreciate having students in front of us, um, over and over again, the two things that students comment on about being in County Public Schools is one, the opportunities that they have to learn and and create things like fidget spinners, which have been very handy this evening. and also they say that they belong uh in their schools and that matters and that makes a difference. So we have to be mindful of that and it's important to hear from our our kids so that we're grounded in those facts. So uh again I appreciate parsing that out so that we can see exactly how those dollars are being spent. There are

198no further questions. I entertain a motion to accept the monthly treasures report for August as presented. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by board Christian. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer Green. All in favor of approving the monthly treasures report for August, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Motion carries 32. Dr. Wiggins. >> Thank you, Rottney. And board members, that concludes our action items. We did um Chairman Murphy, I apologize. We did miss a discussion item on the governance manual board meeting section H if we'd like to go back to that. >> Yes, thank you Dr. Ligins. Um so we had a request from a board member to discuss page 11 of the governance manual. It's linked in the agenda uh under conduct uh that

199says uh to ensure discussion and dialogue remain rooted in facts. the board chair that designate or district staff may use a portion of this period to correct or clarify any inaccurate information that may have been communicated in a public meeting. Uh board member Monday, I believe you requested to pull this particular or to place this particular item on the agenda. I did. And so there have been a few instances where um fact-checking has occurred, but what was fact checked actually um wasn't what the person was talking about. And so there are a few examples um of that taking place. a few happening during public our public hearing when um several comments were phrased as questions um and then um comments based off of those comments were given um and I have heard from several constituents

200where there's a concern that they've came and they've spoken to us um and they're they have been fact checked and while one constituent pointed out that what was fact checked was correct, right? What was said was correct. It didn't actually address the issue that she was bringing before the board. And when we look at what it exactly says in the governance manual in those fact checks, we're not always addressing that specific piece. And so my ask is for the board to either consider one um suspending that until we talk about the factchecking process um and is it really achieving what it set out to achieve? Um or two, we think about restructuring that process to where um we're being respectful of the person that is coming and speaking to us. Um because it is tough

201and intimidating. I've been there um as a parent coming to speak to the board and they only get three minutes. Um it's their time to speak to us, the board, which is the elected body. Um, and so that's just quickly my comments and I'm happy to share specific examples or to email those to the board. Um, I went through all of the times that that has taken place. Um, but I just think given the current climate between the board and the community, um, I think that we can approach addressing community concerns in a way, um, that doesn't leave some of the people that are here, our community members or families, um, feeling like they weren't heard or respected. >> Thank you. Uh, Bory, uh, Bor Green, >> Chair Murphy, um, if I may just kind

202of give a background to this. Um, and so earlier on in my service on the board, um, there was not an opportunity to provide, um, correct information, if there was mis misinformation represented during public comment, and there were multiple times when u media outlets would rep report on that misinformation as fact. So we had conversations um very helpful conversations with our local journalists and media and they um really asked that in the space of board meetings if information is misrepresented can we take on that responsibility of ensuring that before that meeting is over that it is provided in fact um that's also best practice by a lot of open government governance um organizations that within that space we're not not saying I don't want to take away I agree this time is for the public's

203comment to speak to us. It's not for engagement, but also taking the responsibility of making sure that information is provided to not just the people that are in the room, but everybody, the 330,000 constituents that we represent here in Faget County with the factual information so that they can digest that appropriately because they may not get a parent email or they may not get certain things, but this space is available for all. And so I think the intention was to provide that accurate information so that misinformation was not reported as factual. Um but I don't think any intention was ever to um hurt someone's feelings or make them feel uncomfortable. So I think if there is a consideration for a different you know a different flow of of where that looks like so it doesn't

204seem like it is combative. I don't ever want it to seem like that. Um but that is a space maybe near the end that if there was information that was um misidentified that we as a responsible bar uh body make sure that before the meeting is over that is validated with the correct information. I would be amendable to that kind of discussion. >> So you're saying it's our responsibility to make sure the media reports things factually. >> Well I think I mean that's what I heard. My understanding is that the board meeting is the place for the board to conduct the business of the district. And in order to do that effectively, the board has to ensure that information that is shared about the district is accurate. Uh because often times reporters and and not

205just reporters but the general public uh receive information about the district through the through these meetings. Is that is that my understanding? >> Yes. It was not about making sure what is reported, but it's about providing the correct information so that if reporting happens, the correct information is available to everybody. And I'm amenable to a uh process. Uh to your uh the point you raised, board member Monday, you know, if it occurs at the end, there's not uh a confrontational arrangement um as you suggested. And then even making available and we can do this through our existing communication channels. Uh because one thing we started a few years ago, there used to not be any communication that came out after a planning meeting. Um now we send out a recording. Now we send out the

206board brief. Uh we can include uh not just the factual information, we can include links to that, right? So that that we can better support, it relates to the point I made earlier. um we can better support uh uh the public in accessing the information that they need to access about the district or if they have questions uh ensuring a more uh robust response mechanism mechanism to ensure that those questions are being answered. So is that is that something that would help uh mitigate the concerns that you've raised? I think that just to give a couple of examples to kind of understand where I'm coming from because in some cases I think what's being fact checked probably shouldn't have been in the first place. And so on at our public hearing someone made the comment

207we are here tonight to discuss a budget with no budget and that was fact checked saying the decision was made to meet without a budget. Well we know that but there indeed was no budget before that public hearing. So, to me, that's a comment that's being made that doesn't need to be factchecked. Um, there was the question, has hiring freezes left classrooms empty without teachers? And the fact check was that FCPS has hired more teachers than student enrollment predicted, which may be true, but then again, that doesn't answer that question of, you know, has someone experienced where maybe there's a par educator that hasn't been able to come in. Maybe there isn't a teacher that's been able to come in and left that classroom without the students that they need. In the end, going back

208the month prior, there was the fact check about preschool transportation where the fact check was correct, right? The information that was shared was correct. But if I'm remembering and I went back and watched and took notes, um, what the question was about was their specific child's situation where the preschool needed to be moved to another school um, and transportation being provided, right? That piece wasn't addressed in the fact check. And so I think more so my issue is that we're doing fact checks. And I say we because it's reflective of all of us on the board, but we're fact-checking things that aren't necessarily facts that need to be checked. And I understand the want for factual information to be put out there, but the information that was shared was factual. So I'm fine if in

209some other format we want to send something out. If there wants to be something clarified at the end of the meeting, I just want to make sure that when individuals come to us and they say, "I'm a PAR educator. This is my job. This is what I do." We don't fact check them at the end when that is wasn't the point of what they were telling us. They were telling us what it's like to be in the job that they're in. And and so that's the point that I'm bringing. And I don't know if the suggestion really does address that issue, which is kind of why I was thinking maybe we need to think about what we're fact-checking. It's more of a procedure of when do we decide that something needs to be fact checked

210>> and think about that a little differently. Um because I I think these are just a handful of instances. Um, but we just need to be careful to allow the public to be able to express their thoughts or some of these are just facts with us as a board because that's their time to be able to do that to us who are elected to be able to hear what they have to say. >> Yeah. I don't I don't think anyone here disagrees that that's that time belongs to the public. Members of the public are entitled to speak for their aotted time. And so the intention of the language in the manual was not to interrupt or or get in the way of that process, but it was also to ensure in an environment that we're

211in that our conversations, our decisions, our discussions, the things that happen in this room uh are rooted in facts and things supported by evidence. So, if you have specific language uh for adjusting that particular section, that's certainly something um that you can share and that the board can consider. Uh because that's the challenge when you're operating uh when we're we're making these decisions, we have to create procedures, right, that we can then translate into um action. So, if there's a particular solution or language that captures a particular solution you're after, I think that's certainly something that um that can be submitted to the board for consideration. >> Thank you. Um I appreciate that. Is there a particular procedure or something that's written of when the chair or district staff decide to fact check a comment?

212Because I think that's the piece that I I don't get to. So, I I don't have that, but I think that's the piece that's missing. It's not necessarily that the language isn't accurate. I just think the fact checks that have been taking place, some of them don't fit what this language says to need to be factchecked. So, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. And I I don't know how else to correct that other than there maybe being a procedure of when we fact check something. Um, but I I just don't think the judgment of some of these fact checks is really addressing what one the constituent said or two what their question was. >> I agree, Dr. Monday. I mean, and in general, I just think it's it's a bad look for the

213district. I mean, we look thin skinned. We look defensive. And that's the the one time that people can come and say something. They get either 90 seconds or three minutes. And it may be an opinion. It may be I mean who are we to say what the facts are? I mean if somebody comes and says Tylenol is causing autism, are we going to fact are we going to fact check them on that? That that's their belief. I mean where do we draw the line between facts and opinions and our opinion of facts? It's just it's thinned and defensive and I don't like it at all. >> Well, I think the solution if we want a solution for this, I think a solution is we can come back with uh specific procedures that indicate when uh

214that would happen. It would again the language suggests that it would happen at the end. Um and it it can reference if specific data if specific uh figures are shared that are not accurate then those could be corrected. So we can work definitely I think uh um looking at staff to see if we can work on some specific language of uh procedures uh that would say hey um if a verifiable data point is shared that is is not accurate then that's something that we can come back uh and clarify at another point in the meeting because I do think the community uh and this board has a interest in ensuring that accurate data and information is being shared as a part of this meeting and and I believe that's something we would all agree on.

215So um again we can look at some specific language uh again language that accompany accompanies this governance manual language with specific procedures that says these are the circumstances under which district staff would use a portion at the end of the meeting to clarify anything that was shared. Is it will that address the concern? >> Sure. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Dr. Ligans. Thank you all. Underformational items this evening. The agenda includes five written reports for your review, including the running board approved contracts, personnel changes for September school activity, funds report, monthly construction update, and an update to the Faget County Board of Education administrative procedures updating allowable platform for electronic communication between staff and students. This time, I will turn the meeting back over to you, Chairman Murphy. We do have a need

216to go into close session this evening. >> Uh, thank you, Superintendent Lian. Um the next portion of our agenda is where members of the public may address the board on any topic of district related concern that is not on the official agenda. This is not intended to be a time for debate or direct engagement with the board and members of the public are encouraged to model civil and respectful discourse and conduct. And we have as I mentioned earlier five members who have signed up to speak and we'll ask them to keep their remarks to uh three minutes or less. And our first speaker this evening will be Alicia Adair, but I think he indicated that they will not be speaking. Okay. Uh Noah Cornet, who has time yielded from Marquy Funk, so that's six minutes.

217Thank you, board. My name is Noah Cornet. I'm a resident of district 2 and I've lived in Lexington for about 10 years. I moved to Lexington in 2015 to attend UK as a first generation student after attending a very small school in Eastern Kentucky, a public school, a school that used its very limited budget and put students first. They used that budget wisely. A school that allowed me and my brother to become the first people in my family to achieve higher education. So, I addressed the school board today with the utmost respect for our public schools and public school teachers and staff, which is why the recent mismanagement of the budget and the associated $16 million shortfall is so disturbing to me. We can fact check that if we want later. Um, we live in

218a time where public schools are under attack in a way that we've never seen. funding cuts, the destruction of the Department of Education, and voucher systems designed to funnel public money to private schools, put our kids, especially ones from working-class families like mine, at risk. And because of that, our public schools must do their absolute best to be good stewards of taxpayer money, and to ensure that there is transparency, accountability, and most importantly, a complete rejection of corruption or the appearance of corruption. And to that end, I am urging all of the members of the Faget County Public School Board to support the external forensic audit that teachers, staff, the taxpayers, and most importantly, the students deserve. Now, for the public listening, I want to briefly explain the difference between a traditional external audit and

219a forensic audit. An external audit, which is what the school board uh is currently considering through their audit board, will hire a CPA firm to cons uh confirm basic compliance with uh general accounting principles or GAAP without diving deeply into all invoices, invoices or specific concerns. On the other hand, a forensic audit would allow a team of forensic accountants to do a deep dive into the budget and invoices with the express intent of investigating mismanagement or fraud. I'm not sure about you, but if I misplaced $16 million or I had an unexpected shortfall of $16 million, I would be calling in the best team that I could find to figure out where it went and make sure that that never happened again. Now, you see, we're not the first school board that has experienced this.

220In 2017 in Greenville, Texas, a similar situation to what we face now was occurring. $54 million missing, accusations of mismanagement. And the superintendent at the time assured the community that their audit, their internal investigation was sufficient and that there was no need for a forensic audit or uh external investigation. And a year later in 2018 after their departure, the community demanded a forensic audit which revealed, and I quote, and I believe has been quoted before, sufficient evidence to conclude that former GISD officials engaged in cronyism, misappropriation of payroll assets, misconduct to include mismanagement in the abuse of position, and theft by gift of taxpayer money. And I think we all know who that superintendent was, Demetrius Ligins. So, if I had a nickel for every time that Superintendent Ligins was presiding over a public school

221district with a massive amount of money that went missing, uh, and rejected community calls for a forensic audit, I'd have two nickels, which is not a lot, but it is a little weird that it happened twice. And I've heard from the board that there is concern over co the cost of such an investigation, which I do empathize with. I, as I am an engineer and not an accountant, I'm not an expert in how much this forensic audit would cost. But after looking into a few other school districts that required such audits, including Greenville, um the numbers ranged anywhere between 25 and $200,000, which I do admit is a steep price. But at the same time, I think we can all admit that in order to rebuild public trust at a time where it is so

222important, uh that is a price that is well worth paying. And I do have some ideas for how to cover it. So, according to recent reporting by the Herald Leader, Superintendent Ligins has a total compensation of $381,000, making him the highest paid superintendent in Kentucky. It also, coincidentally, means he has paid more than both Governor Basher and Mayor Gorton combined. He has also been reimbursed $60,000 in the last 6 months for travel, including a $7,000 plane ticket to Australia. Never been to Australia, but I do know that a standard coach ticket does not typically cost that much. So, if we assume a conservative or median cost of about $150,000 for this forensic audit, I would recommend, as others have recommended, that Dr. Lian's salary be reduced by that amount uh until the funds have been

223recovered. That way, he can still make more than 97% of all Americans, and we can rest assured that this doesn't happen a third time. I would not like three nickels. So, please listen to me when I say this. Our public schools are the best tool that we have to ensure that a quality education is the right of every American. Not just for the richest among us, not just for the people that can send their kids to private school. Even a coal miner son raised in Jackson, Kentucky deserves a quality education. And that's what I got. In order to have an engaged, informed population that is ready to take on the immense challenges that this country faces, we must have the most well-funded, professional, and respected public school system in the world. That is only possible

224when those who run them are dedicated to transparency and maintaining community trust. So once more, I urge you to support an external forensic audit, rebuild the trust that you have lost, and protect our public school kids. Thank you. Our next our next speaker this evening is Melissa Higgins. Good evening board members. Um, it's late, but I just want to leave with this thought. I'm not going to talk about the budget, but a whole lot has been said, and I know it's a lot that you have to um, really think about tonight. But I do want to bring to your attention House Bill H240. And this concerns me in terms of instructional and um our needs of our kindergarteners and our first graders because this bill is calling for our kids to be uh screened at

225the beginning of the school year and then to have them um looked at and address their needs academically. I want to be um putting everyone on notice that I'm concerned about our children that are in title one schools. I'm concerned about our children who we continuously say they have missed out on preschool. We have a lot of children who have not been in schools. But now we have this House Bill 240 that is saying that if our children are not instructionally sound at the end of that kindergarten year and they do not pass the screening, they will get another year in kindergarten or another year in first grade. I'm in the classrooms. I want you to know that we need to be prepared. We do not want to be sitting here in May like deer

226and say how did this happen? We do not have enough happening in terms of staffing to meet the needs of our students who are not passing the screening. And after we look at MAP scores and hopefully soon we'll really get into the data and really start undercovering that we've got some serious needs that need to be addressed. So, please keep a this in mind because instructionally and academically, we've got kids that are going to be impacted. And I don't know about you, but as a former teacher, putting a child a year behind is not the answer. When they get to middle school and high school, we have some serious issues. So, please be mindful of education. all about all kids moving forward. And unfortunately, we know we put rules and guidelines out there that are

227sometimes just not obtainable, not realistic, and our kids get caught up in the crossfire. So, please, let's look at the instruction now that's out there and the opportunities for our younger children to have those opportunities to get extra help now, not in May and not during the summer. It's too late. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Higgins. Our last speaker is Matthew Vid. Okay, a couple fact checks. Um, Dr. Lian said that the budget protected the classroom at all costs. Not true. Teachers were notified last week that they were being moved from one school to the other, which meant that they were there were kids that sat in classrooms with a teacher and then they were told they were getting a new teacher combined with other classes that we that we are not protecting classrooms

228at all cost. And this is it's a complicated topic about holding schools harmless. Um, but we don't have time to get into all that, but um it's not true that you protected classrooms at all cost. You did not hold schools harmless for extra for teachers beyond staffing levels. You had to move them around and te kids who sat in a classroom for 30 days had to sit are going to sit in a new classroom with a new teacher because of because you guys are broke because you're broke. And just for everyone that's keeping count, we tonight we heard our third definition of the contingency fund. So, in May when I was here, I said, "You guys better have $16.7 million because if you don't, the Kentucky Education Commissioner is going to be the next person

229comes in this room because you're going to be below the 2%." And I said 2% was based on the total budget because that's what the state law says. And then my time was up and I was walking back and you fact checked me and what did you say? You said I said, "Look it up. It's KRS 46160 460 7 up whatever." And you said I did look it up and you said it's general fund plus nutrition services. That was what you said. And then and then uh two weeks ago you said it was general fund plus nutrition services or food services minus on on behalf payments and you gave a number. You said it was like 14 million. Gave a number for it. What that what that calculation would be general plus food minus on

230behalf. And then tonight we got a completely different definition of a contingency fund. Mr. Jackson, Mr. Barbara sat at this table and uh Miss Ferguson asked a very good question because the policy says it's all five funds and apparently all five funds doesn't equal the five funds that are on every single budget document. What are the five funds? General fund, special revenue fund, capital outlay fund, building fund, food services fund. Apparently it's based on some other five funds. I mean what are they? Where where is it in the policy? What page is it? Where is it? I mean, this is it's I mean, it's just like unbelievable to me. I mean, it's like a joke. I mean, this is like a joke. It's like an episode of a sitcom. And then finally, Mr. Murphy asked

231a good question about he asked, "Can we can we detail the the expenses that were taken out of district of this building?" And then we got about three minutes from Dr. Barber about revenue changes from one budget to the other. Didn't answer the question. Not it was a great question. Wasn't answered. >> Thank you, Mr. V. Uh, next I entertain a motion to make the agenda dated September 22nd, 2025 on which action has been taken at this meeting at part of the minutes as if copied in the minutes verbatim. Is there a motion to that effect? >> So moved. >> Uh, we have a motion by Bormer Green. Is there a second? >> Second by Bormer Christian. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 5-0. At this time, I'll entertain

232a motion to enter close session uh for potential litigation discussions and discussions of allegations that if substantiated may lead to personal action pursuit to car 61.810 section 1, paragraph C and F. Is there a motion to that effect? >> So move second. >> Uh motion by board member Christian, second by board member Green. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries 5. It's 9:30 p.m. The board is now in close session. We'll return in open session and take any action if necessary. Do you know what it's [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] W. [Music] W up. Oh, wo. [Applause] [Music] B [Music] Up. [Music] Up the wall. [Music] Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Oh, [Music] hey. [Music] Oh, wait. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. Heat. [Music]

233Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Okay. The board left close session on a motion by Green, a second by board Christian. The vote was 50 at 9:44 p.m. Uh, our business having been concluded, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn this uh action meeting of the Fake County Board of Education. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Boran Christian. Is there a second? >> Second by board member Green. All in favor of adjourning say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. Thank you all >> and enjoy fall break. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]