“JCPS (Louisville, KY) lacks a current and cohesive plan that outlines district priorities and goals (finding 1.7).”

Auditor Allison Ball:

• 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. 142-144).
• 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. 215).
• 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. 340).

More.