JCPS racial equity council questions Yearwood over budget cuts, future of equity work

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Members of a Jefferson County Public Schools council that advises the district on racial equity pressed Superintendent Brian Yearwood Wednesday about how sweeping budget cuts will affect vulnerable students and the district’s equity efforts.

At a meeting of the district’s Advisory Council for Racial Equity, or ACRE, the committee questioned reductions to the former Diversity, Equity and Poverty division — now renamed Opportunity and Access — where positions were cut from 43 to 18.

The committee, made up of community members and district employees, met with Yearwood as JCPS works to address major budget reductions. Several members said ACRE was not consulted before decisions were made.

“I believe this is probably as critical of a time for JCPS in my 30 years in the community,” said council chair Ben Johnson. “I just feel there are missed opportunities and community voice has been missing.”

Kevin Gunn, a counselor at Farnsley Middle School, questioned why programs serving students in poverty were eliminated without clearer explanations.

“Why are the programs that support students in poverty being removed without clear explanation of the impact on poor students and families,” Gunn asked.

Yearwood said the district is reassessing initiatives it cannot afford, including promises made to choice-zone schools.

“When we look at some of the things we put in there and the investment, things weren’t adding up the way it should,” Yearwood said.

He also pointed to academic performance — noting roughly one in three students reads at grade level — as evidence the district must change course.

The department’s name change drew criticism from committee members.

“If we are committed to doing diversity, equity and poverty work, then call it diversity, equity and poverty. The work doesn’t change because the name changed,” Johnson said.

The debate comes as districts nationwide face federal scrutiny over diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The U.S. Department of Education revoked  more than $9 million in federal grants to JCPS, alleging unlawful racial balancing and an illegal funding formula. 

Yearwood said equity efforts will continue across all divisions of the district, not just the opportunity and access division.

“The equity work has to be expanded, not pulled back, with measurables now,” he said.

Committee members, however, questioned who will carry out and enforce that work following the staffing reductions.