A state task force focused on Jefferson County Public Schools held its first meeting Monday in Frankfort, where district leaders testified before members tasked with deciding the fate of the state's largest school district.
The task force has drawn criticism since it was initially proposed, including from JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio, who has viewed the group as a legislative attack on Louisville's public school system.
But despite prior criticism, Pollio and other local officials showed up to the state capitol to discuss the district's successes and shortfalls, including in transportation and student attendance.
Here's what to know.
JCPS makes progress in graduation rates
JCPS — which serves more than 93,000 students — continues to make progress toward a number of goals, despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages and a relatively high poverty rate among its students, Pollio told task force members.
The district's graduation rate increased to 87% in the 2023-24 school year, up from about 82% in 2017-18, Pollio said. Meanwhile, JCPS has increased the rate of graduates who are ready for postsecondary work, whether that's through college or entering the workforce, growing to 80.5% last year from 50% in 2017-18.
The district has also built out its career and technical education programs so students have greater access, including to programs that let middle schoolers explore future pathways.
JCPS continues to struggle with staff shortages, attendance
Like many other districts across the country, however, JCPS is struggling to get the teachers and support staff it needs, Pollio said.
Attendance is a persistent weak spot as well, he said. Just over 38% of students were chronically absent in the most recent school year, missing 10% or more of school days. That's up from a rate of 22.8% in pre-pandemic 2019.
School bus issues through 2023-24 also led to students missing millions of minutes of instructional time, with that burden falling disproportionately on students of color, Pollio said.
Pollio called the recent decision to reduce busing for most students in magnet programs “one of the toughest of my career” but said a shortage of school bus drivers necessitated the new plan. He added he hopes transportation stipends and the conversion of up to 70 former TARC drivers to JCPS bus drivers could help mitigate the impact on students.
Some question task force's membership
The state task force, formed by a Republican-led legislature, has most recently drawn criticism for its composition.
The group includes six state legislators, two of whom are Democrats from Louisville; a representative from the state auditor’s office; and a representative appointed by Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg.
Last week, state officials announced the names of six additional community members — two parents from JCPS, one JCPS teacher, one JCPS principal and one business member.
Those members were selected after submitting a resume, references and a statement of intent. The Legislative Research Commission could not disclose how many people applied for those roles, spokesperson Mike Wynn said, because applications are considered confidential personnel matters.
On Monday, several expressed the task force is not diverse enough.
“I would have liked to see more parents and maybe more people from the community on there, instead of just two,” said Angela Masden-Wilson, one of the resident-parent members, who added she would have liked to see representatives of the JCPS support staff on the task force, such as school nutrition workers or bus drivers.
Louisville Sen. Gerald Neal also thinks the task force would have benefited from more citizen members, he told reporters after the first meeting.
Having more diverse voices could have bolstered the task force’s credibility, he said, adding he thinks the task force is an unnecessary intrusion of state power into a local democratic process, since JCPS has an elected school board.
“What you essentially have done in this process is said, 'you don't count. … We're gonna determine what you do,'” Neal said.
Still, those concerns will not keep Neal from trying to get a “good outcome,” he said. “I heard words in here that encouraged me, all children being addressed.”
Sen. Michael Nemes, who co-chairs the task force, said its only purpose is to "find ways to better educate our children. We are here to help."
Who's on the JCPS task force?
Legislative members
- Sen. Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, Co-chair
- Rep. Kim Banta, R-Fort Mitchell, Co-chair
- Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville
- Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield
- Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville,
- Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville
Citizen members
- Angela Masden-Wilson — resident-parent member. Masden-Wilson is the parent of a fifth grader at Blue Lake Elementary. She previously worked for JCPS and is currently the director of civic engagement for Play Cousins Collective, which provides a range of services to Black families.
- Brittany Abdelahad — resident-parent member. Abdelhad is a parent who works for BrightSpring Health Services. She did not attend Monday's meeting in person.
- Jody Wurtenberger — business member. Wurtenberger formerly worked for Humana, including as a vice president, according to LinkedIn. He recently wrote an opinion piece for the Courier Journal in support of school choice.
- George Nichols — teacher member. Nichols teaches welding at Iroquois High School.
- Rebecca Nicolas — principal member. Nicolas is the principal of Fern Creek High School. She was chosen from a list of three names submitted by superintendent Pollio.
Other officials
- Representative of state auditor Allison Ball: Chief of Staff Lorran Ferguson
- Representative appointed by Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg: Metro Council member Phillip Baker
Reach Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@courier-journal.com or follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @RebGrapevine.
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