The superintendent of Kentucky's largest school district, is proposing $142 million in budget cuts.

That would include eliminating 300 positions in central offices.

Kelsey Starks sits down with Jess Clark from Louisville Public Media to discuss what it all means, and this week's Reporter's Notebook.

JCP Superintendent Doctor Brian Yearwood outlined his proposal to the Audit and Risk Management Advisory Council on Wednesday.

Here's what he had to say.

It's a new day in JCPs.

Renewed accountability.

I am proposing a responsible, student centered draft budget that realigns a district with its mission to challenge and engage each learner to grow through effective teaching and meaningful experiences within caring, supportive environments to fulfill our duty to students, teachers, families, and taxpayers.

I have to make difficult decisions, including eliminating positions and programs that no longer align with our essential obligations as a school district.

These decisions will not all be popular, but they are necessary.

Jess Clark covers education and learning for Louisville Public Media's Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

Thanks so much for being here.

Now, Doctor Yearwood knew he was coming into this position last fall with a huge budget shortfall.

The board was a little surprised to learn about it.

And now we have, this proposal to make some serious cuts here.

What exactly is in the proposal?

Yeah.

So there are some major cuts.

That's a $142 million, which is sizable.

The biggest chunks are he wants to cut $44 million from central office.

That's around 300 positions, he says.

Another 41 million for supplemental add on, funding that goes to schools.

There's another 30 million that's in the works pending negotiations.

So those are things that the district is actively negotiating with the different unions.

Cuts to transportation, and some school closures as well.

Yeah.

And those school closures have been a big sticking point since he announced that, earlier this year and teachers and parents were out protesting.

They pulled that back.

But there are still schools on the table.

Yes.

King Elementary, which is in the Shawnee neighborhood in the West End, is still on the table for closure.

Zachary Taylor Elementary is also still on the table for closure.

The new proposal would leave, leave intact.

Liberty High School, which is an alternative high school.

It would move the campus, and it would also leave intact, the Tap program, which is for high school mothers.

Yeah.

The the biggest chunk of this, though, is those 300 positions eliminated from central office.

What kind of positions are these?

And, what have you been hearing from administrators who, are concerned about what that means?

Well, it's not super clear what the 300 positions are yet.

Central office, these are folks who do administrative tasks, tasks or, perform tasks that are, kind of centralized.

So things like it, things like human resources, things like finance.

Those are all things that are considered central office.

There are a number of positions that are considered technically central office that are actually school based positions.

So there are concerns from some, you know, principals that even though some of these positions may be termed central office, they're actually going to cut in.

They're not going to insulate these schools from having staffing cuts.

So we'll have more with Jess Clark on this developing story tomorrow, including what it means for teacher salaries.

Now the school board is scheduled to vote on the proposal January 20th.