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Community members urge board to preserve McKinney‑Vento staffing as budget deliberations continue
Summary
Three public commenters asked the board to continue funding McKinney‑Vento (homeless‑student) positions in the 2025–26 tentative budget. District staff said supports would continue and that a plan exists, but community members and volunteers urged full-time staffing to maintain coordination with partners.
Multiple public commenters asked the Fayette County Board of Education to retain full staffing for the McKinney‑Vento program that assists unhoused students and families.
James Woodhead, who identified himself as a teacher, parent and AFC/Civil‑society member, urged the board to “maintain full staffing to meet FCPS's local obligations” and argued that local staff and funded positions are needed because homelessness and housing instability have grown in the county. He cited an affordable‑housing gap reported by community groups and said that District staff and community partners need coordinated support for unhoused students.
Tracy Bruno, chief of staff, responded during the meeting’s public‑comment period that FCPS would “continue to fully support our McKinney Vento students and families” and that the district had a plan in place; she said there “would not be a drop off in that support.”
Lisa Macchio, a volunteer with the Catholic Action Center who described herself as a retired registered nurse, asked the board to restore or keep funding for two part‑time positions and one full‑time McKinney‑Vento program director in the 2025–26 budget. Macchio provided historical metrics from the district’s McKinney‑Vento work—“over 658 families, over 2,000 kids” helped since 2016—and said community partners rely on a single school‑district coordinator to move families from emergency to stable housing.
Jenny Collins, a psychiatric nurse, said homelessness is a risk factor for suicide and that reducing McKinney‑Vento staffing would harm vulnerable students and families; she urged the board to include a fully funded McKinney‑Vento program in the budget.
Board members did not take an immediate vote on McKinney‑Vento staffing during the meeting; the subject was discussed in the broader budget presentation and will be included in the administration’s budget development and follow‑up as decisions are made.
