A group of people sitting at tables have their attention focused across the room at another person who is making a presentation about tax rate options

Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher and members of the Superintendents Advisory Council listen to a presentation on school facilities funding. Photo by Joe Ragusa, Kentucky Department of Education, Feb. 26, 2025

(FRANKFORT, KY) – Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher sought input from superintendents on facilities funding during an in-person Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Superintendents Advisory Council meeting on Feb. 26.

Fletcher said he wanted to hear from district leaders to put together recommendations for the Kentucky General Assembly to consider on ways to improve funding for facility improvements and upgrades. This meeting was the first step in that process.

“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do here and I’m excited about this,” Fletcher said. “This is something I’d like to see, if we can come out with some good recommendations moving forward on what does that funding stream look like.”

Steve Lyles, assistant director in KDE’s Division of District Support, provided an overview of the different funding sources schools can pull from to fund facility improvements.

During the discussion, several superintendents spoke about the challenges they face in their communities, including how districts have relied on local taxes, how they navigate the bonding marketing and how natural disasters have impacted their ability to improve their facilities.

Charles Morton, superintendent of Harlan Independent, said he had difficulty funding facility improvements early in his tenure with the district and turned to a nickel tax, which is a 5-cent equivalent tax that Kentucky school districts can levy for facility funding. Nickel taxes make up the first 5 cents of a school district’s property tax rate per $100 of assessed property value.

The tax, which can only be used for facility improvements, needs to be approved by voters and can be recalled by voters as well.

“That’s another element that makes it very difficult; the only way that I can really generate more money for needed facilities can sometimes be politicized, and (its) not good for the kids,” Morton said.

On top of that, navigating bonds through the School Facilities Construction Commission can yield bond offers that are much lower than what the district needs, so Harlan Independent had to work within its own budget to meet needs in the district facilities plan.

“It seems like a lot of work to just meet the basic needs,” Morton said. “And then the (bond) offers are so low and the general fund revenue that we would generate to build any of athletic facility or anything like that, it would just never happen.”

The size of a district matters, too. If the district is pulling from a smaller tax base, the amount it can raise through local taxes is also smaller, regardless of what needs the district has.

Sheri Satterly is superintendent of Frankfort Independent, a district with only 917 students as of the 2023-2024 school year. She said even with some of the highest taxes in the state, they still don’t have enough bonding capacity to tackle major projects.

“Even though we have three nickels and the 107.5 cent tax rate ($1.07 per $100 of assessed property value) – and nobody argues about the nickel in my community because they get it, they understand – but still, it’s not enough to make magic happen,” Satterly said.

Several superintendents also mentioned how difficult it has been to adjust construction costs with recent inflation.

Leonard Whalen, superintendent of Dawson Springs Independent, had similar concerns with the size of his district, saying “we could do three or four different nickels, and with the cost of the way things are, we could still not get there to build up a building of any significance.”

Whalen also said many residents are still recovering from tornadoes that hit the region in December 2021, so they would struggle even more if school taxes were increased. He noted many other districts are facing similar problems, whether they’re dealing with issues from tornadoes, severe flooding or other extreme weather events from the past few years.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to anybody in Dawson Springs for a tax increase anytime in the near future,” he said.

Fletcher said he looks forward to having more discussions with superintendents as they work toward potential recommendations.

The next Superintendents Advisory Council meeting is scheduled for May 14.