Gerth: Why Kentucky Senate leader's rant about JCPS funds was pure hogwash

Senate President Robert Stivers took to the Senate floor on Feb. 27 to lambaste the Jefferson County Public Schools, which he said was hoarding money.

He called out the school system for having about $340 million in what he alternatively called a “rainy day fund” and a “reserve fund” and he suggested the district should use that money to build schools or improve its bus routes. The district has struggled to get students to school and home on time.

“If I’m from Jefferson County, either a teacher, or a parent, or a student who kinda got left on the side of the road, it would intrigue me to know that they have 340 million dollars sitting in an account … 340 million. Let’s see, oh, three years ago, it was only $122 million, then it was $135 million, then $149 and now it’s gone up over $90 million in one year.”

Problem is, it was all hogwash. Bull hockey. Balderdash.

Stivers was either lying in an attempt to get people pissed off at the schools. Or he’s not as smart as he thinks he is.

His foaming-at-the-mouth display on the Senate floor is part of the ongoing effort by Republicans around the state to attack Jefferson County schools and to suggest the leaders there are untrustworthy − and comes as a state House committee was preparing to take up a bill to study splitting up JCPS.

“I ask the press, ask the people who run JCPS why this is? Why you haven’t spent this money? Why haven’t you built new schools with all the money, why haven’t you had better transportation? Someone needs to ask them the tough questions other than us,” he ranted.

Answers: They have spent the money; they did it in the summer and fall of 2022. They have built four schools and they’re building 20 more over the next decade. They’re trying to fix the transportation program, but they can’t hire enough bus drivers.

Asked and answered.

The problem is, Stivers never asked anyone the tough questions. Or the easy ones.

He just flew off the handle when he had no idea what he was talking about – or he knew what he was talking about and chose to lie.

After talking to him earlier this week, I’m suspecting the latter.

Here’s the truth.

Stivers was getting his numbers from a report called “Kentucky District Data Profiles School Year 2022,” a report he waved around as he spoke. It includes financial, demographic and other information from each school district in Kentucky.

He wasn’t telling the truth about the numbers and what they mean, though.

The line item in the report that has Stivers' shorts all twisted is under the heading “end-of-year balance.” It’s on that line it said that Jefferson County Schools had a touch over $339 million on hand at the end of the 2022 school year.

According to JCPS, it’s not a rainy day fund or a reserve fund – it’s simply the amount of cash it had on hand at the end of the fiscal year.

And why does it need that much cash on hand at the end of the fiscal year?

Much of a school district’s operating funds come from real estate taxes – most of which are paid in October, November and December of each year.

Traditionally, school districts have the most available cash in their accounts in January, and they spend down that cash over the next year. That means, by necessity, they often have a pretty good slug of cash when each school year ends because they still have bills that come due over the summer and into the next school year.

Mark Hebert, a spokesman for JCPS, said that figure has been higher than normal in recent years because the district has hundreds of vacancies that it can’t fill. The district, he said, is keeping those jobs on the books so it can pay new teachers and bus drivers when they do hire people.

Stivers argued earlier this week that he wasn’t wrong in characterizing the fund as a “reserve fund” or “rainy day fund” and that the district is hoarding money, even after hearing the district’s explanation.

So, I did a little math to try to determine if the JCPS year-end balance was out of line with other districts.

Jefferson County Public Schools had 93,446 students in 2022, and the district’s year-end balance from that year came to $3,629 per student.

Then I checked out the numbers for Stivers' home county.

Clay County is a pretty small district with just 2,736 students in 2022. There are 35 times more students in Jefferson County as there are in Clay County.

Clay County’s year-end balance in 2022 was about $15 million or $5,463 per student. By Stivers' definition, his home district is hoarding money at a much higher rate than Jefferson County.

I also checked some other districts.

Some schools had lower per-pupil year-end balances, like Fayette only had $2,197 per student in its account. But some had more. Muhlenburg County Public Schools had $6,341 for each student at the end of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, according to the report that Stivers quoted.

Instead of understanding what the numbers meant, Stivers chose to attack Jefferson County Public Schools.

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Robert Stivers' rant about JCPS rainy day fund was nothing but hogwash