LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Newly obtained records show 20 Jefferson County Public Schools are no longer eligible for a district stipend that gave teachers at high-need schools thousands of dollars in extra pay, saving the district $8.7 million.
For years, teachers at some of the district's highest-need schools received an additional $8,000 a year through the Education Support Zone stipend.
But shortly before this school year began, teachers at several schools learned they would no longer receive the stipend at all.
New records now show 20 schools, most of them elementary schools, are no longer eligible:
- Cane Run Elementary School
- Dixie Elementary
- Doss High School
- Foster Elementary School
- Frayser Elementary
- Greenwood Elementary
- Indian Trail Elementary
- Knight
- Minors Lane Elementary
- Moore Traditional
- Newburg
- Price Elementary
- Rangeland Elementary
- Sanders Elementary
- Semple Elementary
- Shelby Elementary
- Trunnell Elementary
- Wellington Elementary
- Western High
- Wilkerson Elementary
The cuts save JCPS $8.7 million, according to district records.
The stipend had historically been tied to state designations for struggling schools, including schools identified as Comprehensive Support and Improvement, or CSI, and More Rigorous Intervention, or MRI.
CSI schools rank among the bottom 5% in the state. MRI schools have remained among the state's lowest-performing schools for multiple years.
JCPS is now saying only teachers at schools with the MRI designation qualify for the stipend.
JCPS superintendent Brian Yearwood said that isn't a new rule. Instead, he said the district had failed to enforce an existing requirement that schools lose the stipend when they no longer have the qualifying designation.
"The rule has always been if a school is no longer in that status, they would lose the stipend," Yearwood said. "We did not enforce that until recently, which we should've. It wasn't something new, it wasn't something we just made up."
But sources close to the matter dispute that explanation, saying that was not how the stipend had been handled in the past and that the change was not communicated to teachers.
A source also said the district did not have an official written policy outlining the rule.
When asked why some teachers weren't told they were losing the stipend until shortly before the school year began, Yearwood said the district is looking into what happened.
"I'm not sure what happened," Yearwood said. "That is something we are investigating."
The Jefferson County Teachers Association has filed a grievance over the stipend changes.
WDRB first reported on the issue before the start of the school year, when teachers at 17 schools had learned their schools were no longer eligible for the additional pay.
The loss came as JCPS was already beginning to phase out the $8,000 Education Support Zone stipend.
In May, teachers were told the stipend would be reduced by $2,000 each year over four years. A new $2,000 stipend for all JCPS educators was expected to offset the first year's reduction.
That meant teachers who had been receiving the ESZ stipend expected little to no change in their total stipend pay this year. Teachers at schools that lost eligibility, however, lost the ESZ stipend altogether.
The changes also come as more JCPS schools are expected to fall under increased state oversight.
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