Many concerned with district distribution of funding

Recently, over a million dollars in funding was given to three Lexington high schools: Frederick Douglass, Tates Creek, and Bryan Station. Many in HC’s community are understandably concerned, including HC principal Paul Little and HC Assistance Principal Laura Donovan.

“Some high schools get a little extra money for staffing allocations while others don’t,” Little said. “I think they deserve it, but my goal is to see what we have to do from our end to try and get a little extra staffing money as well.”

Little would like to see the money go towards another associate principal as well as an interventionist. An interventionist  who would help students academically.

“Primarily, in the associate principal category, we have to cash in some clerical positions,” Little said. “It can get tricky with our funding to cover the third associate principal, and in a school our size, we should have four associate principals.”

Little, along with other principals from Dunbar and Lafayette, have voiced their concerns about not having enough administrative staff and the funding disparity between the six high schools. HC alone has a student population of 2,140 students with three administrators and one dean of students. Lafayette has five administrators and a student population of 2,274. Dunbar has six administrators with a student population of 1,980. Tates Creek has seven administrators with a student population of 1,817. Bryan Station has 16 administrators (two for each academy) with a student population of 1,542. Frederick Douglass has seven administrators with a student population of 1,235.

“The superintendent chose to give additional staff funding to Tates Creek, Bryan Station, and Frederick Douglass,” Donovan said. “This was the superintendent’s decision; it was done outside of the normal staffing allocations.”

Donovan also feels that the money could have been allocated more equitably and put to good use at HC.

“I think an additional assistant principal would be a good investment,” Donovan said. “We cover our bases with the administrators we have, but we don’t have the time to do everything. We should spend more time in classrooms and working with teachers on an instructional basis.”

Many overpopulated high schools have seen lack of administrators, overcrowding in classrooms, and an increase in the students to staff ratio.

“I would love to see the staffing formula go from one certified staff per 31 students to a lower figure,” Donovan said.

Last year, SBDM was forced to cut eight teachers. This year SBDM will be facing more tough decisions because of the funding disparity.