FCPS Board to adopt FY26 budget, commissions external audit and investigation

Tonight, the FCPS Board of Education will vote to approve the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) District Budget.The FY26 budget's General Fund is roughly $21.4 million smaller than the draft budget shared in May. That's largely because the May budget had included increased revenue from the Occupational License Tax increase that the District has since given up on pursuing.

Last week, the School Board voted unanimously to support an external audit of the District’s finances and decision making.

• The District’s Audit Committee — a volunteer body made up of non-FCPS employees with financial expertise — will draft a Request for Proposals (RFP) that defines the scope of the audit.
• The Board will then issue that RFP for external companies to bid on. No clear timeline for when the RFP will be issued has been shared yet.

The Board also voted to commission an investigation into allegations that the District placed Budget Director Ann Sampson-Grimes on administrative leave to silence her ongoing warnings about the District’s finances.

• The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Sampson-Grimes has sued the District over her leave placement, and alleges that she had warned Administration officials as early as February 2024 that FCPS would soon be facing budgetary issues.

Programming Note: After the FCPS Board of Education adopts the FY26 Budget, our coverage of the District will end. (for now). We appreciate how generous our readers have been in supporting and sharing our FCPS Budget coverage. One day, we hope to hire a full-time reporter to cover FCPS just like we cover Council. If you want to help us get to that point, become a CivicLex member! Your support directly goes toward our community reporting.