LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Fayette County School board members are scheduled to vote on adopting and levying the district’s property tax rates for the 2026-27 school year on Thursday.
According to the executive summary of a board agenda item, the administration is recommending the board levy the “4% Rate”—setting property taxes at 79.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for real estate and 81.1 cents per $100 for personal property.
“It’s not a 4% increase in the rate, it’s a rate that will allow a 4% increase in revenue. Some people understand that, some people don’t,” District Four board member Amanda Ferguson said.
While the administration’s report frames this as a “decrease” from last year’s rates (which were 79.8 cents for real estate and 83.0 cents for personal property), some property owners will still see their tax bills rise. This is because Fayette County’s total property valuation surged by nearly $2 billion over the past year, climbing from $43.3 billion in 2025 to a record $45.37 billion in 2026.
- Adopting the proposed 4% tax rate is projected to bring in $354,852,060 in revenue (assuming a standard 98% collection rate).
- Adopting the compensating tax rate—which would keep the district’s revenue flat compared to last year—would bring in $341,479,806.
By approving the 4% increase, the board will pull an additional $13,372,254 directly from Fayette County property owners. According to the agenda documents, the district’s tentative budget passed in May was entirely predicated on this tax increase to offset inflation and “many unmet needs.”
General Fund Deficit and “Policy Suspension”
The board will also discuss the district’s Unaudited Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2026, which confirms the district has been operating under a structural deficit.
To balance the incoming working budget for the 2026-27 school year on paper, the administration is asking board members to vote to suspend Board Policy 02.4242 (School Budget and Purchasing).
Under normal board policy, individual schools are permitted to carry forward up to 15% of their Section 6 school-level funding allocations. The proposed suspension will allow the central administration to sweep and capture those carry-forward funds to patch the central budget deficit.
Interim Superintendent’s Core Directive
The meeting will also mark the formal introduction of Interim Superintendent Dr. Bill Bradford’s 2026-27 Professional Growth Plan.
The plan focuses heavily on “Financial Forecasting and Resource Allocation Transparency” as its primary target area. Under the plan’s directives, Dr. Bradford is tasked with leading a formal “Corrective Action Plan” in direct response to recent state and local audits of the district’s budget processes and expenditures.
Success metrics for the interim superintendent’s plan include timely presentation of digestible financial reports, maintaining the state-mandated 2% contingency fund, and meeting 100% of statutory deadlines.
The FCPS planning meeting will be held Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the John D. Price Admin building.
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