LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – JCPS Superintendent Dr. Brian Yearwood submitted his recommendations to the district’s board on Thursday to overcome its $188 million deficit, including closing two schools.
“These are difficult but necessary steps,” Dr. Yearwood said. “We made this decision after a thorough examination of the quality and capacity of our facilities and our educational models.”
The full list of recommendations includes:
- Closing Zachary Taylor Elementary due to enrollment being under 50% of the school’s capacity.
- Closing Liberty High School, which was originally created to serve students in the credit recovery process, but is now a resource that is available at schools across the district.
- Moving Waller-Williams Environmental due to the school being at 39% of its capacity and the cost per student reaching about $110,000.
- Consolidating King Elementary into Maupin Elementary due to King being at 70% capacity and the cost per student being $10,000 above the JCPS average for elementary students.
- Relocating the Georgia Chaffee Teenage Parent Program due to enrollment being at 21% of the facility’s capacity.
The proposed changes are projected to reduce the budget deficit by $4 million. Dr. Yearwood has already said that he hopes to make $132 million in budget reductions between fiscal years 2026-2027.
“Small things add up, you know, we have cuts in, in different arenas and you know, obviously we can’t do a $100 million dollar cut,” Dr. Yearwood said at a press conference Friday. “We have to take sort of an aggregate of these cuts to make it viable.“
However, some families are not reacting well the proposed cuts, including one Liberty High School student who believes the change will not be a viable option for her.
“We do not think this is right,” Kaitlin Webster-Hayes, 10th grader at Liberty High School, said. “We think that more could be done around the county instead of just shutting down Liberty.”
She made the change from Moore High School, her reside school, after experiencing immense bullying. Webster-Hayes said the experience at Liberty has been “life-altering.”
“Liberty is way more than a credit recovery program and how much of a meaning it has to these students and these families,“ she explained. ”And not to mention all of the hard work and opportunities that we have worked for, things like our internships, college and career readiness. If Liberty gets taken away from us, that is essentially ripped out of our hands.”
Under the proposed changes, Webster-Hayes would have to return to Moore, telling WAVE that would be a “very trauma-inducing situation.”
Her grandmother, Beverly Webster, is worried JCPS is not focusing enough attention on the student experience in its efforts to reduce the deficit.
“It’s the success of these children that matters. I was listening to TV last night. Dr. Yearwood was speaking and then he brought on somebody else that was talking about, you know, the deficit that they’re facing. He talked about the deficit. He didn’t talk about the children,” Webster explained. “And I hate for it to be a money thing. You have to care about the children because you know what? These are going to be our leaders one of these days. And you can’t just shut them down.”
In addition to the closures and consolidations proposed, JCPS has several construction and boundary changes coming for the 2026-2027 school year:
- W.E.B. DuBois Academy will transition to its newly constructed campus behind Thomas Jefferson Middle School.
- Grace James Academy of Excellence will move into the former DuBois building on Indian Trail.
- A new, stand-alone Early Childhood Center adjacent to Watterson Elementary is expected to open in August 2026.
- A major renovation and addition project at Atherton High School is scheduled for completion.
- Echo Trail Middle School will see a boundary adjustment for incoming students who live north of I-64 and west of Valhalla Golf Club to ease overcrowding. (Note: Current students at Echo Trail will not be impacted).
Dr. Yearwood said the possibility of teacher layoffs are not off the table for addressing the deficit, as well as changes to the makeup of the district’s central office. About 165 teachers and staff are expected to be impacted by the proposed school changes.
Families interested in sharing feedback or asking questions are encouraged to attend one of the three upcoming community forums:
- Forum 1: Monday, Dec. 1, from 5–6 p.m. at Kammerer Middle School. Address: 7315 Westboro Rd.
- Forum 2: Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 5–6 p.m. at the JCPS Center for Professional Learning. Address: 3903 Atkinson Square Dr.
- Forum 3: Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 5–6 p.m. at Academy @ Shawnee. Address: 4001 Herman St.
Written comments are also accepted through the Proposed Facility Changes Form, which can be accessed by clicking here.
The proposals are scheduled to be presented to the board for a final vote on December 9.
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