The Newport Board of Education unanimously approved an independent contract for professional finance services to the board.
The contract was for Tete Turner, a former Newport Financial Director. Turner was the finance director before Jennifer Hoover, who recently left the role.
“In making this decision, we looked at what the district needed, and that was for somebody to come into the district and know what they were looking at,” Newport Board of Education Member Bobbie Stubbeman said. “Not have to be educated on how to interpret district finances.”
Stubbeman said they interviewed Turner and looked at past audits, and all their questions were answered satisfactorily.
“I think that there may be some people that might not understand our decision tonight, but I think we’ve done our due diligence to make sure that we’re able to get the information that we need to get so that we can hopefully take a better look at the budget and make the necessary cost that we need to so that we can save our teachers.”
Stubbeman is referring to tentative staffing allocations recommended by Newport Superintendent Tony Watts at the Feb. 26 board meeting. His recommendation, approved by the board in a 4-1 vote, included 21 position cuts across the three Newport schools. Newport Primary School would receive four cuts, Newport Intermediate School would receive eight, and Newport High School would receive nine.
The board of education plans to meet on March 12 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the allocations further.
Those cuts come from the district’s current budget deficit. In a Jan. 22 regular meeting, former Newport Finance Director Jennifer Hoover said the school district is looking at a $3.9 million budget deficit for the school year 2026.
Newport Board of Education Chair Ramona Malone said the board needs to get a firm understanding of the situation before it starts considering positions to cut. She said the budget released last year was a draft, not the final budget.
In October 2024, the district voted to transfer $1 million from its investment fund to balance a budget deficit of $937,930 before sending it for review to the Kentucky Department of Education.
The school board met during a work session on Oct. 16, 2024, to discuss the final budget before sending it for approval. The conversation was carried over from the board’s discussion at an Oct. 2, 2024, work session, where it discussed how to decrease a budget deficit of $1,963,993.
That left the district with a $425,000 contingency in its beginning balance for the following school year if it did not incur additional revenues or expenses.
“Mr. Turner is here to help us get an update on the budget that was prepared last year and the accuracy of the budget,” Malone said. “Give us some more real numbers as to where we are today, and next week, at the planning meeting, the board will be looking at positions, but we will not start talking about removing positions until we have a true understanding of all the positions in the district and what their roles and responsibilities are to the district.”
Malone said that because some board members are new and unfamiliar with the district’s operations, roles and responsibilities, they will all sit down next week to create flow or organizational charts. She said this would help provide a clear understanding of each role and responsibility.
