Kentucky superintendent to ask school board to keep horse therapy program open

Valarie Honeycutt Spears, Lexington Herald-Leader on Dec 17, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fayette County Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins told families Tuesday he would recommend the school board keep open The Stables for at least another year after parents rallied around the specialty program.

The cash-strapped district has considered closing the program, which offers specialized learning for students in a smaller setting and with emotional support through therapeutic work with horses.

But students, parents and guardians have pleaded with district officials to keep the program open, telling Fayette County School Board members they would not be succeeding in school — or able to attend at all — if not for specialized services offered by The Stables.

The Stables, which opened in 2012, has 37 students and recurring costs of $1.1 million to operate, district officials have previously said.

The school board is set to convene Thursday.

The potential closure is part of an initial round of cuts for the financially troubled school district, which in recent months has faced a since-resolved multi-million dollar budget shortfall and a dwindling contingency, or rainy day, fund.

The district is also weighing whether to move two schools previously separated by gender — George Washington Carver Boy’s Stem Academy and Rise Stem Academy for Girls — into a new building that was initially going to house only the girls school.

There is no immediate update on plans to combine the STEM schools.

But Liggins told families Tuesday he would recommend The Stables alternative program be kept open until at least the end of the 2026-27 school year, Pat Kline, director of Central Kentucky Riding for Hope told the Herald-Leader.

Kline’s group, commonly called CKRH, is a partner to The Stables.

According to Kline who was at the meeting, Liggins said he was supportive of the Stables program “and will strive to find community supporters to help achieve the funding necessary for financial support.”

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