LEXINGTON, Ky. — Community business leaders have launched a Classroom Essentials Fund to provide teachers at Fayette County Public Schools with $125 each for classroom supplies amid severe financial pressures facing the district.

The initiative, announced Wednesday, was established by Commerce Lexington Foundation, Central Bank, Keeneland, and philanthropists Daren and Kirsten Turner. The fund provides teachers access to an online platform where they can purchase essential classroom and instructional materials, with real-time balance tracking.

Luther Deaton, chief executive officer of Central Bank, said the district's students and teachers needed support. "The most important thing we got in this city right now is our students and we cannot, and our teachers, and we cannot, the teachers cannot afford to do all this," Deaton said. "So we've got to step up to the plate and do it."

The effort comes as FCPS faces a multiyear financial crisis, having cut $20 million from its budget for fiscal year 2026 and eliminated 120 positions. The district's general fund is projected to end fiscal year 2026 in a deficit after spending $10 million more than its $700 million projected revenue.

Equity Solutions Group founder Ray Daniels explained the mechanics of the program. "The initial phase of this initiative will provide $125 per teacher for essential classroom and instructional needs," Daniels said. "Emails went out this morning informing the teachers of how to get on the platform, how to make purchases, and the platform will actually show them their balances in real time."

The program represents one of several community responses to Fayette County Public Schools' ongoing struggles, which include accounting inaccuracies stretching back to 2008, according to district officials.