On Tuesday, Sept. 10, The Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force held their fifth ever meeting at Louisville Male High School. Composed of seven legislators and seven community members, the task force studying JCPS listened to community concerns during the public forum.
The state legislature established the task force in April of 2024 to look into the functioning of Kentucky’s largest school district, JCPS. Concerns about the size of JCPS are nothing new, however, since the busing fiasco at the start of last school year brought the issue to the forefront of state politics. The calls for the splitting up of JCPS have been met with mixed reactions from the community.
“I’m a legislator and a teacher within the district. I have a compelling interest to ensure that the best thing that can happen for the district happens, and the way to get to that is to be a part of the process,” said State Representative and task force member Tina Bojanowski, Ky.-D.
“Splitting up the district would be detrimental,” said Executive Director of the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund Christie McCravy.
The trust fund, created by the Metro Council, allocates public funds to make affordable housing more accessible. McCravy’s concerns were echoed by the students, teachers, parents and other concerned stakeholders at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Many of the people that we assist live in areas where the property values are not as high as in other areas, so therefore their district from day one would start or would begin with less than the needed resources to serve their community,” McCravy said.
Equity was a major theme among speakers during the meeting. Felicia Winburn, an eighth grader at Grace James Academy of Excellence, spoke at Tuesday’s meeting about funding within the district, the possibility of splitting JCPS and her school.
“I decided to speak about splitting the district because my school is in the West End while I live in the East End, but if they split the district I won’t have the opportunity to go there anymore,” Winburn said. Winburn commented that the students and faculty of Grace James Academy are from various locations in the city and have “built bonds,” citing the STEM programs available to her at the school.
“Today I speak on behalf of my minority peers throughout JCPS,” Jamia Watson, a student at Male High School, said, “Splitting the district would have far reaching implications including equity and access, resource allocation, community impact and administrative efficiency.”
The task force began meeting in Frankfort in July, holding hearings on the organizational structure of JCPS from Superintendent Marty Pollio and other district leaders. The meeting on Tuesday was the second time the task force has come to Louisville to gather community input.
Overwhelmingly, the community members, teachers, students and parents who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting were against splitting up the district. Many speakers emphasized the need for more resources for JCPS and claimed dividing the district would only worsen issues, not solve them.
“When splitting a school system we are also splitting our communities, our families and our friends,” Trevin Bass, district four candidate for JCPS school board, said.
“The community members’ voices are what’s really important, and I was glad to hear a lot of the speakers emphasize that point, that if we’re going to make changes in JCPS, it needs to be something that really supports the needs of the community,” State Representative Lisa Willner, Ky.-D., said.
Ultimately, the group will present a report with a list of recommendations to the General Assembly before the 2025 legislative session kicks off in January. While task force leaders claim the group was not instituted with the intention of dividing JCPS, many speakers feared that that was their ultimate goal despite the community pushback.
“My hope is that the members of the task force really will listen to the community voices, that they’ll be able to set aside preconceived notions, preconceived prejudices, to really do what the community is asking for,” Willner said.
