Dear Republican Legislators Representing Jefferson County,
You recently made a very public showing of calling for another audit of JCPS, referring to the findings of the previous audit, and adding issues like the transportation issues currently plaguing the district, weapons in schools, and academic performance.
I'd love to think that this was made in good faith, but given the legislative priorities of your party and the people involved in this letter, I doubt that's the case. But I hope you at least read this for some perspective on the issues you raise and some food for thought.
PREVIOUS AUDIT
Did any of you take the time to ask JCPS about the ways in which the 2014 audit had been addressed within the district? Ten years later, it seems reasonable to ask the district itself for a report on the steps it has taken to address the audit.
Have you considered the issues raised in the audit and if they might be present in other school districts? Have you considered asking that EVERY district be audited to make sure that issues like the ones in the report are addressed across the state? Has the legislature created any bills or budgeted funds to make sure that these issues are addressed in every district? Below are some of the issues directly from the 2014 audit that I would imagine are present in other districts. Do you have any plans to audit them to make sure that these issues aren't universal? JCPS may be big enough to swallow a few dozen districts in terms of its size, but that doesn't mean those districts should escape scrutiny. If anything, it makes it easier for those districts to hide their own internal issues.
-Over 93 percent of JCPS teachers spent personal funds to supplement resources for classroom instruction primarily due to a lack of financial resources allocated to the classroom.-Compared to peer (out of state) districts, JCPS had the lowest textbook budget and did not receive textbook funding from the state.-The percentage of students able to provide all required and optional classroom supply list items has decreased in the last three years.-Board members generally do not appear to have a depth of understanding to actively examine or question the budget effectively without significant reliance on JCPS staff.-The Board lacks a committee structure to provide a detailed level of oversight of financial and audit matters.-JCPS has not maintained contracts for banking services used to deposit and secure hundreds of millions of dollars in JCPS funds.-JCPS does not maintain a central database of all JCPS contracts.-JCPS has active contracts that can be renewed or continued annually without report or presentation to the Board.-Payments totaling $41,364 to three JCPS contractors for professional services had either insufficient documentation or were not in compliance with contracts.-Poor documentation and lax oversight led to $5,561 in overpayments for capital construction change orders.-Central Office monitoring of the use of textbook funding is limited and textbook needs are not included in the overall improvement plans at the school or district level.-JCPS’ current purchasing cards were plagued by administrative issues and complete supporting documentation for card transactions could not be located without extensive review.-JCPS lacks a comprehensive and centralized manual of procedures to ensure that they are current and consistent with Board approved policies.-Travel reimbursement guidelines are vague and lead to inconsistencies.-JCPS has not developed written procedures documenting the assignment process and allowable usage of JCPS owned vehicles taken home by staff.-JCPS does not have a consistent policy for all salaried staff regarding the use of accrued leave time for partial days and may result in a larger than necessary liability for unused leave payouts.
-Various issues with internal audit departments and IT security and structure
BUSING / TRANSPORTATION
There is no doubt that the start to this year was a disaster. Marty Pollio and his team deserve criticism for not having tested the routing, not having a crisis plan in place, and for not being adequately prepared for responding to a crisis. I have said as much in my own comments on the matter. But what goes unsaid is that Pollio is taking steps to move the district toward neighborhood schools while also retaining school choice, something that your party claims to want. The difficulties of maintaining choice and transportation for students are something that your party doesn't like to talk about. If a student in one part of the county wants to attend a school in another part of the county, they still have to get there, and not every parent has the flexibility, money, vehicle, or time to get their child there. So do you want school choice, do you want neighborhood schools, do you want a hybrid, or do you simply just want to have choice only for parents who can afford the costs of getting their child from where they are to where they want to go? JCPS has spent years refining its model to do it as efficiently as possible. This year, under increasing staffing issues, they blew up that model to do more with less. That it failed is a sign that something has to give in the equation. If you're following the news, you know that multiple districts have had trouble hiring and retaining enough bus drivers.
In regard to safety of students, part of the concerns of residents in Jefferson County were that new bus stops were in unsafe locations, not easily accessible by sidewalk, and other concerns that are difficult for JCPS to remedy on their own. Has the legislature considered more funding for infrastructure like this, or perhaps working on new regulations to govern how developments are built, lit, and accessed to help ensure that kids have safe ways to get to transportation options?
Jason Nemes' family has benefited from JCPS having school choice, just like mine has. Poor and middle class students who want to go to certain schools available to them rely on transportation for those choices. Had we not had transportation, my daughter would not have been able to attend Noe and Manual, both of which were instrumental in her art education and her achieving success in college. I valued having choices available to us. If you truly believe in school choice, then the issue of transportation is a key part of that equation. Faulting JCPS for the problems in shifting away from the bussing your party has spent 45+ years attacking and exploiting on behalf of private schools is a sign to me you're not sincere about much of anything when it comes to Louisville's education.
POLICIES LACK TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
Your letter doesn't elaborate on this one, as the audit findings were more regarding sloppy and poor documentation of policies and procedures, and the fact that some were out of date. From my perspective, JCPS has made strides in transparency and public accountability as it relates to policy. It's interesting that your party made a great show of outrage at JCPS' policy discussions on SB150 which were a great example of both transparency AND public accountability. The meetings were public, held in the usual public place with public access to the documentation being discussed prior to the committee meeting and board meeting. I challenge you to find this same transparency in other districts throughout the state. Let's look at the other districts you serve. Perhaps as part of your legislative agenda for next year you can create some minimum requirements for making agendas, minutes, and clearly recorded meeting video to be available on the internet for all districts.
Here is Bullitt County's agenda page: https://portal.ksba.org/
Here is Shelby County's agenda page: https://www.shelby.kyschools.
Here is Hardin County's agenda page: https://portal.ksba.org/
Henry County has a Board of Education page which links to minutes, but no agenda is provided. Henry County did a "review" and approval of SB150 policies in an emergency single reading on 6/17. Transparent, no?
Here is Oldham County's agenda page: https://portal.ksba.org/
Here is Anderson County's agenda page.... Oh wait, I can't find one. But maybe my Senator, Adrienne Southworth can point me to where agendas or meeting minutes are posted. I must say it was a nice bit of gerrymandering to move my Senator to one based in Anderson County.
I am 1000% behind transparency and accountability. If you really want to show your own commitment to it, I'd suggest you remove the shield legislators currently have on open records requests into their own activities, as well as expanding open meetings and open records laws so that we have MORE transparency into how you and agencies around the state operate.
NUMBER OF BOARD MEMBERS
You have highlighted the audit finding that 7 board members were inadequate to monitor JCPS. Edelen suggested adding two more at-large members. While I'm not opposed to the idea, I wonder if the goal in calling for this is more eyes on the district, or more opportunities to politicize the school board and perhaps shift it toward changes desired by outside forces and not the constituents of the district. I can only say from my own experience that our board members are paid very little, do a lot of work essentially for free, and are far more receptive to questions and feedback than anyone I've encountered in Frankfort. Most are well prepared for meetings, understand their role vs that of the Superintendent, and do their level best to work for what is best for students. I wish I could say the same for the people in Frankfort. You made a great show of introducing a 15 minute public comment period before each JCPS meeting. Might I suggest that you do the same for your own legislative session and committee meetings?
DEADLY WEAPONS AND VIOLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM
Let me say that I 100% agree with keeping guns and violence in the classroom and figuring better ways to address youth violence before it's too late. I also do believe that JCPS needs to do a better job of addressing disciplinary issues in the classroom and school buses. But let's not ignore your own party's role in glorifying guns and refusing to do anything to tamper gun violence. Consider SB168 to require the destruction of guns confiscated in crimes. Perhaps it's only a symbolic gesture at best since there is no shortage of guns available to Kentuckians, but what message does it send to our youth that a gun used to commit a crime today could wind up back on the streets to do the same again? We're selling guns to buy police the equipment they need to be safe from guns? Seems silly, no?
How about red flag laws? Despite a fellow Republican introducing a bill to create them, it failed to get anywhere. Some of your members actually drafted a resolution against red flag laws. Again, maybe it doesn't stop a school crime, but how committed are you to violence if you all lack the moral courage to advance reasonable gun laws?
Students of color, who make up a large percentage of JCPS' population, are subject to disproportionate discipline for the same infractions as their white peers. I know that your party doesn't like to talk about this, but it's a fact of life for these students and their families. JCPS has been trying for a while to address this issue and strike a balance that maintains discipline in the classroom while not creating a school to prison pipeline for kids. Obviously, this is difficult, but it should not be ignored just because your districts don't include a high percentage of people of color. JCPS has been working on facilities and support for people in the areas hardest hit by crime in Louisville, and trying to create a sense of school community in areas that previously didn't have them. JCPS' problem is society's problem, and like so many other issues, expecting the public school system to solve what no other entity seems willing to address is a fool's errand. The violence that scars Jefferson County impacts students, teachers, and staff as they see people they care about murdered or wrapped up in the violence. The psychological effects of this certainly don't help improve a student's learning.
I'd also point out that discovering weapons in JCPS is not necessarily an indication that the problem doesn't exist in other districts. Kentucky has had two mass shootings in schools. Neither was in Jefferson County. Our students and teachers in JCPS are highly attuned to guns and gun violence, which may lead to more actual reporting of weapons than in other districts.
Yes, guns are a problem, but I doubt that the supermajority in Frankfort has any willingness to adopt common sense measures to help keep guns out of the hands of kids or adults at the risk of harming themselves or others. And if my discussion with Jason Nemes was any indication, I doubt many of you are willing to risk damaging your relationship with your peers for the sake of laws to help reduce gun violence.
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
JCPS has some of the best performing schools and some of the worst performing schools in the state, and it usually correlates with a number of factors that are out of the control of our schools, including poverty. duPont Manual is one of our "best" schools, but that's mostly a factor of it being a selective school, not necessarily a reflection of the best or most motivated teachers. JCPS' performance is also a reflection of the fact that compared to other districts in the county, many of the students who are most prepared for success attend private schools and thus don't contribute to the test scores of JCPS. If you look at the best performing schools in JCPS, you'll find that typically the overall income level of the kids that attend coincides with school performance. The fact that JCPS has had school choice AND neighborhood schools tends to make these distinctions between "great" schools and "bad" schools even greater than they might be in a typical county.
In most Kentucky districts, minority populations are so low that achievement gaps don't play a factor into how the school system is perceived. In Oldham County, where I went to school, you can see a distinct difference in the performance of poor and well-off students in Goshen's North Oldham High School. Despite the fact that the gap between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged kids' performance is over 30%, the school is still classified at the highest level of performance by federal guidelines, primarily because those students are such a small fraction of the population. If you're going to hold JCPS accountable via an audit, why not hold EVERY district accountable, given the overall achievement gaps that exist. What makes JCPS more important to analyze than the other districts you serve that have demonstrably "failed" (by your standards) some of their kids? What exactly is the cutoff point for your concern given that every district you serve has significant achievement gaps?
If the legislature ever manages to push school choice through, especially something that funds private schools, I'm curious how you're going to measure student performance. Will every school that receives public funding be required to follow all the same guidelines as public schools? Will they be required to take students of all faiths, backgrounds, income levels, and abilities? Will they be required to track demographic data related to their test scores to show where their own achievement gaps may pop up? Or are you simply looking to further degrade public education by diverting that money to private interests for the sake of someone else's financial gain and/or religious dogma?
And perhaps most importantly, what are you doing to uncover and fix the problems that are out of a school's control that feed into student performance? Homelessness, lack of healthcare, hunger, poverty, incarceration, English-learner status, and other factors can play a huge role in the success of a child. Our schools do what they can to assist in dealing with those problems, but can we not do better in Frankfort at addressing these issues?
CONCLUSION
I think it's time that your delegation and your party decide what is actually important for Kentucky, and perhaps openly talk to Kentucky residents so that you may have honest feedback about what matters. I watched as your party made SB150 and its related bills a priority this session, selling it with fear, propaganda, and out of state doctors and patients, while ignoring the voices of the dozens of KENTUCKY parents, students, and citizens in the annex and Capitol asking you to not push the bill forward. I've watched as the CROWN Act, a bill championed by the Black students in JCPS you claim to care so much about, has failed to reach a vote on the floor twice.
Decent public education should be a bipartisan concern minus the politics of attacking teachers and schools we've seen rising up over the last decade. The conversations regarding public education should focus on the needs of students, teachers, and schools themselves and making sure they are met. And these conversations should be honest, not driven by think tanks, propaganda mills, and outside interests that have no ties to public education.
I would hope that we could at some point get to the same page on these issues. Sadly, I feel that the perpetual politics of division and divisive issues that your party has embraced makes it nearly impossible to do so. I'd ask you to do better, but as Jason Nemes has made clear to me, that's simply a naive view on my part.
Of course, I'd love to be proved wrong.
Sincerely,
Rob Mattheu
Louisville, KY
Kevin Bratcher and Adrienne Southworth are my legislators.
cc: Democratic Legislators from Jefferson County
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