Auditor Ball Releases JCPS Special Examination Outlining a Roadmap for the Future

​FRANKFORT, KY (June 30, 2026) – Today, Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball released a special examination of the Jefferson County Public School District (JCPS), highlighting needs for improvement across the district.

House Bill 6 in the 2024 Regular Session of Kentucky's General Assembly mandated a special examination of JCPS to review the district's overall performance and operations. The Auditor's office worked side-by-side with an independent education consulting entity to conduct an extensive examination of JCPS's functions covering the time period from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025. 

“From the highest levels of the district, we see a lack of communication and goal setting; there has been no cohesive plan for several years now," Auditor Allison Ball said. “And in each working budget report from FY22 to FY26, expenses exceeded revenues. Anyone paying attention could see that JCPS' financial picture was painted in red and was a roadmap to failure. Given that the School Board approved the maximum property tax increase every year over the last decade, we know it's a spending, not a revenue, problem.

Further, over a 20-year period, JCPS's per-student revenue rose by 62%; in the classroom, average teacher salaries increased by 12%. The examination also found a culture of fear of retaliation against teachers if they spoke up against leadership; a fear of being targeted and denied opportunities. Auditor Ball said, “JCPS's teachers work hard every day, and they should feel supported and valued by the district. I'm grateful for their willingness to show up for Louisville's students, even in the face of countless challenges outside of their control."

JCPS still operates a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program under the pseudonym Diversity, Equity, & Poverty (DEP). Even with a myriad of DEI tools in the district, in addition to employing 40 individuals at JCPS, the district's African American students continue to be left behind. African American students represent the largest racial group in the district, with a plurality of 35%. “Despite the district losing $9.7 million in grant funding, JCPS continues to put its federal funding in jeopardy by maintaining its use of DEI," Auditor Ball said. “The district needs to assess whether these programs and positions are actually serving the students they are intended for."

“JCPS is the largest school district in Kentucky. Whether a school district serves 100 students or 100,000, Kentucky's children must be given the opportunity to succeed and chase the American Dream after graduation. JCPS has been receptive to these findings, and I'm optimistic they will use this special examination as an opportunity to grow and improve outcomes for all students."

Notable findings and observations include:

• JCPS lacks a current and cohesive plan that outlines district priorities and goals (finding 1.7).
• A fear of retaliation exists in the JCPS culture (finding 1.8).
• The board operates with too little focus on student outcomes (finding 2.2).
• Former Superintendent Polio had control over the internal audit process, including reviewing and filtering information (findings 3.1, 3.2, 3.6).
• Since 2016, the Board has approved the maximum allowed property tax increase annually (p. 133-139).
• Despite receiving $500 million of COVID funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), in FY22, JCPS somehow began running a budget deficit (p. 141-142).
• Every working budget from FY22-26 shows expenses exceeding revenues (finding 4.18).
• In 2025, approximately 222 teaching positions were vacant. In a survey, nearly half of school-based staff agreed that vacant positions in their school made their jobs harder. School administrators and HR personnel noted delays in the hiring process, which led to hardship in finding qualified candidates for positions (findings 5.1, 5.4).  
• Despite a 62% inflation-adjusted increase in per-student revenue from 2002 to 2022, average teacher salaries only increased by 12% (finding 5.9).
• In comparison to peer-districts (ratio of 1:180 to 200), JCPS assigns more school administrators per student (1:137.5). Further, compensation for principals and assistant principals exceeds national averages (finding 5.10).
• JCPS does not have a deferred maintenance plan. In October 2025, JCPS operations leadership estimated that a budget of $2.5 billion was required to solve the district's deferred maintenance repairs (finding 6.4).
• JCPS claims that it has $1.3 billion in unmet facility needs (p. 213).
• 26% of schools were found to be under-enrolled, meaning they were below optimal capacity (finding 6.6).
• For 2022-23 and 2024-25, 33,358 out of 42,712 behavior incidents on a bus were committed by repeat offenders (finding 7.5).
• 1/5 of all JCPS students feel unsafe at school (finding 8.10).
• 25% of teachers observed by the exam team during school visits did not demonstrate high expectations for students (finding 9.5).
• During school visits, the exam team observed frequent Chromebook usage for instructional purposes, which does not support high-quality instruction or student engagement (finding 9.7).
• JCPS has experienced a sharper and more sustained decline in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) proficiency rates since the COVID-19 pandemic than many of its peer districts (finding 10.1).
• Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) results indicate that significant achievement gaps remain across multiple student subgroups within JCPS. Notably, for 3rd grade reading for the 2024-25 school year, African American students' proficient or distinguished rate is 14 percentage points below the JCPS average, compared to 27 percentage points below the state average (finding 10.2).
• According to the 2024-25 Kentucky Accountability System, approximately two-thirds of all JCPS schools receive an overall rating of “red" or “orange" — the two lowest of five performance levels (finding 10.3).
• JCPS is at risk of losing additional federal funding if they do not adhere to federal policy related to Diversity, Equity, & Poverty (DEP) (finding 11.1).
•  JCPS has 40 DEP employees (p. 338).
• DEP has created and maintained six racial equity tools to be used at the school level. But the district doesn't maintain data on how these tools and resources are used (finding 11.3).
• JCBE's (Jefferson County Board of Education) Policy and JCPS's Racial Equity Plan's focus is limited to “students of color," “Brown and Black students," and “educators of color." Given the significant achievement gaps among other student subgroups, particularly English learners and students with disabilities, JCPS could benefit from broadening the scope of its policy (finding 11.6).
• JCPS (and Kentucky) do not track national trends in diagnosing children with disabilities, which can potentially signal that students are being misdiagnosed within the district (finding 12.1).
• JCPS students who are multilingual are more likely to be overdiagnosed as students with Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Developmental Delays, Speech or Language Impairments, and Mild Mental Disabilities (finding 12.3).
• JCPS's early learning programs have consistently failed to prepare eligible preschool students for kindergarten (finding 12.11).
• JCPS lacks a clear, actionable plan to support Multilingual Learners' (MLs) student achievement. As of the 2024-25 school year, there were approximately 20,000 ML students with 154 languages spoken among them. The five most common languages spoken across the district have remained consistent over the past four school years: Arabic, Kinyarwanda, Spanish, Somali, and Swahili (finding 13.1).  
• JCPS does not have an updated repository of college and career readiness resources on the district website that is available to all students and families (finding 14.2).
• 44% of 12th-grade students did not earn a career readiness indicator (p. 411).
• According to KDE data on 2024-25 JCPS graduates, 15% percent of high school graduates enrolled in college (p. 418).
• In 2024-25, 74% of English Learners graduated within four years compared to 89% of all students in the district (finding 14.4).​
  

The complete examination, including accompanying recommendations and JCPS's response, can be found on our website here.​

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