Jefferson County Public Schools is at a critical juncture as leaders try to slash costs amid an $188 million budget shortfall. I sat down with JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood to discuss his recent proposal.
You can hear the entire unedited conversation with Yearwood at the player above. Yearwood took questions from me and WLKY News’ Madison Elliott, so you will hear us both asking questions.
Here are the major takeaways:
Yearwood says his budget reduction plan will maintain current student services, despite warnings from principals that based on the preliminary budget details shared, they are preparing to lose school-based staff, including assistant principals, instructional coaches, security administrators, and even some teachers and interventionists.
“The services that are being provided now, we expect that same level of service to continue to be provided,” Yearwood said during the interview.
Yearwood said his budget aims to cut central office positions, and that 300 central office staff are on the chopping block, pending a review by the human resources department. He said the district aims to share more information about which positions those on February 10.
A plan is in the works to offer some “incentive” to replace the generous stipends teachers receive to work in hard-to-staff schools. Teachers earn thousands of extra dollars a year for working in schools that serve high shares of low-income students and students of color. Historically, many of those schools struggled with turnover and vacancies, and the stipends of $8,000 to $14,000 a year have been used to attract and retain needed educators. Schools have also used equity funding to hire and keep staff. Yearwood’s plan is to slash funding for stipends and equity funding. Asked how those schools would attract and retain staff without the extra cash, Yearwood said there are talks of new incentives “that we can truly afford and ones that are definitely sustainable.”
Yearwood remains vague about what he means when he says he wants to use data to guide his decisions. Asked what data he is using to drive his current decisions, Yearwood would not be specific, instead saying he was relying on reading and math “levels,” “communication flows,” “workloads,” and “outcomes that are expected.”
Yearwood said he has a plan in place to reduce suspensions. The district has drawn scrutiny for years over a pattern of disciplining Black students at rates far higher than white students. Under President Donald Trump, the federal government stepped back from monitoring the district’s discipline practices. Yearwood said staff are “looking at data” and have more professional development planned around student discipline. He did not offer more specifics, but JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan confirmed by email in December that Yearwood has a plan for schools to reduce overall suspensions by 5% each year.
A short timeline for budgeting is contributing to a level of tumult in decision-making some community members perceive, according to Yearwood. Yearwood initially announced a plan to close several schools — then tabled the plan weeks later, only to revive it as part of the new budget. School principals and community members were also in an uproar over a last-minute proposal to cut funding for mental health practitioners. Yearwood withdrew that plan at the direction of the Jefferson County Board of Education days later. Asked about the whiplash around these decisions, Yearwood noted that he has had a few months to design a budget with massive reductions.
“Typically, these processes should be taking a year or longer to make,” he said. “I had about four months to make decisions.” He said changes are part of the process. He also committed to engage more with school principals in the future.
