Spencer County school leaders plan 'dramatic adjustments' for $1.5 million budget deficit

TAYLORSVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Spencer County Public Schools is facing a $1.5 million budge deficit, an issue leaders said stems from budget miscalculations that were caught early this school year.

Superintendent Will Foster sent a letter to families earlier this week laying out the budget issues. But parents want to know more.

The letter told the community the district is $1.5 million in the hole for the 2025-26 school year. There was a budget miscalculation, and the district thought they had more money than they actually did.

"I thought the letter raised even more questions," said Korey Craddock, who has three kids in the district. "The letter did state that it was a revenue projection issue. What revenue did you think was coming in that ended up not coming in? Was it a tax projection that someone miscalculated? Did you think you were going to have more federal funds?"

The letter said the district's new chief financial officer discovered the issue in August.

"We corrected this issue before the Working Budget was passed on September 30, 2025, but it required dramatic adjustments," Foster wrote. "... This revenue issue not only highlighted a problem for the current year but also established a reality in which we must reduce overall spending moving forward."

Money was also taken from the district's contingency fund to offset the budget.

"How are they going to go about replacing that rainy day fund?" Craddock asked. "How are they going to go about balancing the budget going forward? And you always think about (if) they're going to ask us to pay for it."

Foster said the job cuts and additional spending cuts will add to that rainy day fund, clarifying that there have not been any discussions about increasing the school budget and taxes to account for revenue miscalculations or to add money to the contingency fund.

"Our tentative budget included, basically, an inaccurate number for what's called 'On Behalf' payments," he said Thursday. "Those are payments that come from the state that cover things like health insurance, employee's retirements. And so, when those were entered into the tentative budget, it looked like revenue."

The district said it corrected the budget issue in September, but that came with major adjustments. Some jobs will be cut, but an exact number hasn't been announced.

One student said he was concerned about some of his teachers losing their jobs and worried that his music program would be cut.

Foster addressed the student's concern, giving a sense of relief.

"I am fairly confident in saying there will be no programs cut from our schools," he said.

He also clarified that the district doesn't determine what jobs are cut.

"So that decision ultimately lies with every school," Foster said. "The district doesn't say, you know, 'you cut this person or that person'. That happens at the school. I will also say within our staffing formula, we protect for every school, a librarian, a physical education teacher, music or band person in the middle and high school, they and they also get a choir teacher. So those staffing allocations in our staffing plan on the document are separate from the total number of allocated positions."

Foster said staffing numbers are impacted by three factors: school enrollment, exceptional child education, which is based on caseload size and the budget.

He said the district adjusts staffing based on enrollment every year.

"At this point Rya, no certified teaching position would be eliminated for budget reasons," Foster said.

Foster also said the district plans to increase the contingency by one percent each year. He said he hopes the spending reductions will allow them to be good stewards of their funding.

"The goal is to have a contingency that is healthy enough that you could survive or handle something very large that's unplanned," Foster said.

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