Students arrive at Schaffner Elementary for the first day of the 2023-2024 school year. (J. Tyler Franklin / LPM)In what could be a transformative election for the state’s largest school district, voters in Jefferson County Public Schools chose five candidates endorsed by the political arm of th e local teachers union and backed by hundreds of thousands of dollars in PAC spending.The tentative winners of Tuesday’s elections will represent the five new districts state lawmakers created earlier this year when they passed House Bill 4, carving up JCPS’ longstanding seven school board districts. The election comes at a time of turmoil for the school system as JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood grapples with a large deficit, program cuts, rocky personnel changes and longtime concerns about low test scores and unequal educational opportunities.Better Schools Kentucky, the political action committee of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, reported spending at least $560,000 as of Tuesday getting its slate of candidates in front of voters. That does not include a surge of spending expected in the final days before the election, when teachers could earn $700 a day to hold signs for candidates outside polling stations.The investment appears to have paid off.The Better Schools Kentucky PAC is funded by a combination of JCTA member dues and donations. JCTA President Maddie Shepard told KyCIR the endorsements are decided by the PAC’s board members, who are teachers and union members.Better Schools Kentucky’s spending on this election will outstrip the last race for the Jefferson County Board of Education in 2024, when the PAC spent $294,000 backing two candidates, according to quarterly reports.It’s unclear if BSK will surpass its most expensive school board election ever in 2022, when the PAC spent nearly $798,000 backing candidates in four lively races, according to quarterly reports.Here are Tuesday’s winners, according to preliminary results from the Jefferson County Clerk’s office. They take office in January.District 1With 54% of the vote, incumbent Gail Logan Strange easily beat out Jody Hurt, who made little public showing of his candidacy. Strange was first appointed to the board in 2023 after longtime board member Diane Porter resigned due to health concerns. Voters elected Strange to the seat in 2024. Strange is a former communications professional who worked for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Brown Williamson Tobacco Corporation. She lives in Louisville’s West End. Her child attended private school, but she told LPM in 2024 she had a grandchild in JCPS, along with several great nieces and great nephews. While on the board she has been critical of the decision to cut transportation to JCPS magnet schools, often the most sought-after educational programs. Strange voted in favor of hiring JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood after Marty Pollio retired. She was on the board that approved Pollio’s requests in 2024 and 2025 for budgets with large annual deficits, leading up to a $188 million budget shortfall for the 2025-2026 school year estimated by Yearwood last September.Better Schools Kentucky spent $40,000 promoting her campaign, according to filings with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.District 2Bus driver and former TARC union president Lillian Brents won the District 2 seat in a crowded race with 24% of the vote. Better Schools Kentucky spent at least $246,000 to promote her candidacy through billboards, mailers, other advertising and sign holders at polls. Brents is a JCPS graduate, former JCPS bus driver and the mother of two children who also graduated from JCPS. During a candidate forum hosted by the Louisville Urban League, and moderated by KyCIR’s Jess Clark, Brents emphasized her support for teachers, classroom resources, wrap-around services, and transparency. She also expressed skepticism with state test scores that have shown years of low proficiency rates for JCPS students in reading, math, science and social studies, especially for Black and Latino students. “I can’t say I trust those statistics,” Brents said during the forum.Former state representative Tim Shaughnessy took 22% of the vote. Grow Louisville Together, a PAC connected to Chris Dischinger, CEO of LDG Development, spent $75,000 promoting Shaughnessy’s campaign, according to filings with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.Left-leaning political commentator, data scientist and JCPS father Robert Kahne took 12% of the vote. Kahne’s candidacy did not have PAC support but had by far the most individual direct campaign donations of all the candidates in his race, according to filings reported to KREF and reviewed by KyCIR.Phil Haming received 10% of the vote. Haming is a machine tools salesman whose campaign contributions include $3,000 from the Jefferson County Republican Party and another $1,000 in support from beleaguered former Republican Governor Matt Bevin.Alante Gaines did not run a public campaign. She took 6% of the vote.District 3With 27% of the vote, Taylor Everett, a JCPS parent and incumbent on the board, won the District 3 seat and will represent a wide swath of east Louisville. Everett is an executive at a staffing company who was first elected to the board in 2024. He was one of two board members who voted against the hiring of JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood. Everett was also on the board that approved Pollio’s request for a budget in 2025 that district officials projected would leave JCPS with a $184 million deficit, as shared in public budget documents. Yearwood and top staff rang alarm bells months later after his administration calculated a $188 million deficit for the same fiscal year, and warned the district risked “insolvency,” prompting board members to say they felt district officials under Pollio had not been transparent about the depth of the district’s financial situation.Better Schools Kentucky spent at least $52,000 promoting Everett’s campaign and he had the backing of the Jefferson County Republican Party.Economist Neil Seftor gained 9% of the vote and retired education consultant Veda Pendleton earned 20% of the vote.Gay P. Adelmann was disqualified for filing in a district she did not live in.District 4Voters in District 4 elected Deja Jackson with 35% of the vote. Jackson is a JCPS parent and the director of communications for the Family Scholar House. She formerly worked as a campaign consultant for U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey’s congressional bid. Better Schools Kentucky endorsed Jackson and spent at least $70,000 promoting her candidacy. Jackson beat out the incumbent, Trevin Bass, who received 10% of the vote.Retired JCPS special education teacher and administrator Kim Vinegar took 14% of the vote and Michelle Patrick, a retired educator and education chair of the Louisville NAACP drew 16%.District 5Sheet-metal worker and union business representative Kyle Killebrew won the election for District 5, drawing 22% of the vote. Better Schools Kentucky endorsed Killebrew and spent nearly $150,000 promoting his campaign. Online records show his campaign received seven direct contributions, all from local unions and union PACs, including BSK, local teamsters unions 89 and 783, electrical workers union IBEW Local 369, sheet metal workers union SMART Local 110, Ironworkers Local 70 and pipefitters union UA local 502. Killebrew says he wants to restore trust in JCPS, address inequities among schools across the district and promote skilled trades.Retired teacher and JCTA member Carrie Donovan earned 20% of the vote. William Snawder, a hotel manager who had the backing of the Jefferson County Republican Party, took 16% of the vote. ...read more read less