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Kentucky residents trying to save ag teaching job
 


By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

FLEMINGSBURG, Ky. — Citing a grave financial situation in Fleming County schools, Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday has placed the school system under state control and imposed a series of dramatic cuts to the 2014-15 school year budget.
This is not too unusual, as schools across the nation undergo cuts. What bothered this rural community is the cuts (which were announced May 1) totaling nearly $350,000 include the elimination of one of four agriculture teaching positions. That has parents, students and local business owners in a stir.
In July the Fleming County Board of Education accepted a donation from a community organization to fund that fourth agriculture teacher. State officials, however, have told the district they cannot use the funds to add the teaching position.
The money was collected by A Better Community, a group of about 300 citizens upset the teacher was cut, according to Hinton Mills owner Adam Hinton. In June, Hinton presented a proposal to the board to fund the fourth ag teacher up to $50,000 for one school year. (Hinton did not return calls seeking comment.)
Superintendent Tom Price, who resigned June 30, presented the offer to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) for approval. Because the high school was considered a priority school with poor leadership, KDE took control of the school to assist the staff in management.
In early July, Price, Hinton and Board of Education Chair Michael Ishmael received a letter from Holliday, with instructions that the funds not be used for a fourth ag teacher.
“The KDE staff has shared with district officials and the local board the concerns about accepting community donations for additional teaching staff that could result in recurring unbudgeted expenditures in future years,” Holliday said in the letter.
He said models had been presented to the school district about using the current three agriculture teachers at the high school. He also presented the board with two other options:
•Use community-raised funds to supply an additional agricultural extension agent to Fleming County. The new agent could then be used as an ”adjunct instructor” in the high school agriculture department.
•Use community-raised funds to provide high school/college dual credit opportunities for students interested in pursuing agriculture in college or as a career.
The two options fell on deaf ears, as county residents feel the fourth ag teacher is still needed. Several people attending an early July Board of Education meeting voiced their concerns with state options, with one person reported in The (Maysville) Ledger Independent as saying, “keep in mind that about 70 percent of voters who put you in those seats are farmers, and this is something the community wants.”
Price said he checked possible consequences from accepting the money and told the gathering that KDE representative Jim Hamm had told him the money would sit in the budget and not be used.
“I was told that should we accept the money to fund a fourth agriculture teacher at the high school; the money would be left there unused,” Price explained.
“As you know, we do not currently have control of the high school. The cuts that were made there, were not made by us, but by the KDE. We don’t currently have control of the staffing.”
Board of Education attorney Tom McDonald told all in attendance local authorities have no control over the high school at this time and the local community has no further options on the table.
In May, when news of the cuts were announced, the FFA chapter of neighboring Mason County was in full support, even going the distance to refurbish a John Deere tractor so they could use the auction proceeds to help fund the fourth ag teacher in Fleming County.
Hinton helped spearhead efforts to save the ag position, which would require $60,000 in funds to support the position for a full school year. Just two days after the initial board meeting in May, 400 Fleming County High School students staged a walkout to oppose the cuts and firings, according to the Independent.
The cuts not only affect the ag position at Fleming County High School, but elimination of positions in the fields of  business, family, consumer services, telemedia technology, auto body/collision repair, Spanish and physical education.
Fleming County is not the only county trying to avoid the budget axe. Fayette County Schools has proposed $19.1 million in cuts for the 2014-15 years, cuts that would eliminate jobs of 60 teachers and 30 teaching aides. The Rowan County School District expects to cut $300,000 this school year, according to KDE.
9/12/2014