Lawmaker criticizes Fayette schools’ spending on administrators. District rebuts.

State Rep. Matt Lockett this week criticized the Fayette County Board of Education, saying it gave additional money, called “additives,” to administrators but did not give teachers raises.

“This move by Fayette County Public Schools is extremely frustrating and disappointing,” the Nicholasville Republican said in a Tuesday news release.

“We’ve provided a record amount of funding for public education, even after adjusting for inflation, with the specific intent of boosting pay for the women and men who work on the front lines of our public education system.”

On Wednesday, Fayette County Public Schools officials countered Lockett’s criticism.

“The public statement made by Representative Matt Lockett claiming FCPS administrators are receiving large pay raises or bonuses is not factually accurate.”

District spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith said district administrators have not received a bonus or a raise, and the wording “administrative additives has been around for years and is codified in board policy. “

“It occurs every year,” she said.

District agenda documents for June reviewed by the Herald-Leader show the additives range between $2,000 to $81,000, with the deputy superintendent receiving the $81,000. May district agenda documents additionally say the superintendent’s additive is “negotiated.”

The moves drew Lockett’s criticism.

“Slipping hundreds of thousands in bonuses to attorneys, accountants and administrators is contrary to the legislature’s intention that teachers get raises,” Lockett said.

“These individuals rarely, if ever, find themselves in a classroom engaging with the very children the system exists to serve. Why should they receive more than a teacher, cafeteria worker, or bus driver? I am hopeful the Board will reconsider this decision, perhaps using the money to restore programs that have been cut and provide even more support to students and teachers.’’

Lockett said that earlier this year, “the Kentucky General Assembly approved a state budget that included increases in per-pupil funding and fully funded transportation at the levels provided by the Kentucky Department of Education, as well as allocating additional funding to make pension contributions on districts’ behalf.

“While the new budget will take effect on July 1, it builds on the record funding included in the current budget, “ Lockett said.

“I just want to see resources reach the classroom level where we know they’ll have the greatest impact on our children,” Lockett told the Herald-Leader Wednesday.

All educators, even those who are eventually promoted into positions of leadership like school principals and other school administrators, are paid on a base teacher salary and then compensated for their years of experience and levels of responsibility, Davidson-Smith said.

The procedural “additive” is simply the difference between what they would make as a teacher with the subsequent factoring of their years of experience and comparative increased responsibilities.

It is called different things in different districts, but the premise is the same as it is in the corporate world, Davidson-Smith said.

These levels are determined based on the market value of each position within the district (for example: assistant superintendent, director of special education, principal, etc.) as is seen in the free market, Davidson-Smith said.

She said those levels have remained unchanged from last year, “so referring to these as ‘bonuses’ or suggesting they are new is simply untrue and is unfortunately causing public confusion.”

Davidson-Smith said the average starting salary for a teacher in Kentucky is $37,500, which is significantly below the national average of $48,000. Fayette County Public Schools offers a starting teaching salary of over $50,000, the highest in Kentucky, she said.

She said this year, the Fayette school board voted to continue “making significant strides” in expanding employee benefits, including paid parental leave and classroom supply stipends.

CUTS?

Davidson-Smith said the school district continues “to expand program offerings for our students, not cut them.”

However, individual school councils have cut courses, such as art instruction, at a time that the Fayette County Public Schools board has approved a tentative $801.8 million budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Davidson-Smith has said the district has not cut its budget.

She said student enrollment numbers and projections directly impact the staffing allocation made for each school. If the student enrollment number goes up, the staffing allocation also goes up. If that student enrollment number goes down, so does the staffing allocations.

School decision-making councils make decisions about staffing allocations, she said.

The school board will be asked to approve the working budget in September.