FRANKFORT, Ky. — Several Republican lawmakers who represent Louisville have started determining if Jefferson County Public Schools should be split up.  

What You Need To Know

  • Lawmakers propose creating a task force to study Jefferson County Public Schools

  • It would look at how the district is run, student performance, and hear testimony from stakeholders

  • The task force also would study possibly splitting up JCPS, and the effects of it

  • According to the district, JCPS has been audited or studied six times since 2017

Concurrent resolutions, HCR 81 and SCR 142, have been filed in both chambers to create the Efficient and Effective School District Task Force. This group, made up of lawmakers and community stakeholders, would look into the governance and operation of JCPS, student outcomes and the district’s size, among other things. 

“We’re trying to figure out exactly what we can do to improve outcomes, and it starts at the top. It’s the (school) board that sort of drives the vision, the policies and strategies in order to improve outcomes,” State Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville, said during a Monday afternoon news conference.

The task force would also, “explore options for the creation of new school districts from the state’s largest county school district.”

“You know, all options are on the table and then once we get that information, then we have a better understanding of where we need to go going forward,” Fleming said. 

Senate Minority Leader Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, told Spectrum News 1 he backs asking questions about how the district is run, but has concerns those behind the task force have possibly already decided splitting up JCPS is the best way forward. 

“Because if that notion prevails, and the question is, who’s going to benefit from that? Does that bring the community together or does that divide the community? Does that address the needs of the kids in these schools in terms of education? Or does it mean that it’s just going to serve certain aspects of our communities and their interests,” Neal explained. 

Fleming says along with the task force, they will also look at the results of an Office of Education Accountability report and a financial audit from the state auditor’s office, to determine what is the right decision to make. 

Along with at least six lawmakers and a representative from the state auditor’s office, the task force would include Jefferson County residents. 

JCPS provided the following statement to Spectrum News 1 when asked to comment on this story: “We are fine with an objective, unbiased study of JCPS and how we might better serve students. We have been repeatedly studied, audited, and evaluated since Dr. Pollio took office. However, this task force is obviously stacked in a way to come to a pre-ordained conclusion, that is, to split up JCPS. Dr. Pollio, and anyone who truly understands education governance, is excluded from the task force, and that says it all.”

The district’s statement went on to list six studies and audits of JCPS since 2017.

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