Jefferson County board preserves school mental-health staff, shifts instructional coach funding to principals

The Jefferson County Board of Education voted Jan. 20 to preserve school-based mental health practitioners and to let principals use school funds to purchase academic instructional coach (AIC) equivalents, a compromise aimed at protecting frontline student supports while meeting fiscal targets.

The motion, offered by board member James Craig and read into the record, directed the superintendent to "fully fund mental health practitioners, retaining the existing school-based staffing model and allocation" and to remove MHPs from proposed reductions estimated at $7,600,000. To offset that change the motion recommended permitting principals to purchase an AIC-comparable support position from school budgets, producing a general-fund saving of $7,300,000 and maintaining a $7,300,000 commitment to Dr. Yearwood's instructional coaching model. The motion was seconded and approved by the board.

Why it matters: Mental health practitioners provide direct clinical services, crisis intervention and continuity of care many principals and clinicians said during public comment. Board debate centered on whether shifting AIC funding to school budgets would create inequities between well-resourced schools and those with limited carryover funds and whether the board's longstanding commitment to MHPs is a statutory requirement or a policy goal.

Supporters of the motion argued it protected student-facing clinicians. "This motion will remove the mental health practitioners from the proposed budget reductions," Craig said when presenting the motion. Several mental health practitioners and principals thanked the board after the vote. Jennifer Hamilton, a mental health practitioner at Valley High School, said, "Thank you for moving to keep MHPs. We've been so scared... we are more scared for our kids." (quote attributed to Jennifer Hamilton, MHP, SEG 1630–1634).

Opponents raised concerns that the change effectively "goes halfway" on school autonomy and may leave schools with unequal ability to retain AICs. Board member Deborah Duncan and others pressed for clearer safeguards for low-income schools and shared concern that principals with small carryover balances could not afford to purchase AICs.

What the vote did and did not do: The board's action was procedural and fiscal, not a contract change. It directed the superintendent to preserve MHP positions in the proposed budget and to allow principals to use school budget flexibility to purchase comparable adult-focused support positions. The board did not approve specific reassignments or personnel actions at the meeting; implementation details and any required bargaining-unit negotiations were left to the superintendent and staff.

Next steps: Staff will return with implementation details as the district finalizes the draft FY27 budget and negotiates any required contract changes. The vote came amid wide public comment from principals, teachers and MHPs urging restoration of frontline services and clearer principal engagement in budget decisions.

Ending: The board's vote preserves an explicit focus on maintaining in-building mental-health services while testing a decentralized route for preserving certain adult-centered supports, a compromise intended to protect students while responding to a multi-year fiscal shortfall.