JCPS has a huge budget. It's nearly $1.5 billion and almost twice the size of the city of Louisville's budget.
The board recently announced that they are cutting that budget by almost $100 million. JCPS said the cuts come in part due to the loss of more than $500 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding that had supported salaries, programming and transportation over the last several years. That COVID money was only supposed to be temporary and was intended for a very specific use. Instead, JCPS got addicted to it.
Now, board member James Craig said "I don't see how we avoid next year without a tax increase on the ballot," and they will likely ask voters to approve a tax increase in 2026.
That is lazy board management to keep going back to taxpayers and demanding more instead of properly managing expenses. If the JCPS board and administration allowed temporary federal COVID money to be absorbed into the general operating budget, how is that a taxpayer problem?
Because of its sheer size, it is improbable that JCPS uses all of its $1.5 billion efficiently. There is plenty of waste, and the board should demand an accountability of every dollar before they go back to taxpayers and demand more.
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I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my Point of View.
