Matt Foley teaches American government in the same room where he took a class as a 10th grader. He grew up less than a quarter mile from Fayette County High School. His colleagues and district named him the 2026 Fayette County Teacher of the Year.
Foley, a social studies teacher now in his ninth year at FCHS, was selected as Teacher of the Year at the district's annual awards ceremony.
Getting there took two decades and a detour through the sky. Foley went to college to study pre-law, not education — though teaching was always in the back of his mind because both his parents worked for Fayette County Public Schools, according to fayette-news.net. He also caught the aviation bug, and when bad weather kept him grounded, he filled the time with substitute teaching, mostly at Flat Rock Middle School.
One day he was offered a long-term substitute role starting the next morning. He took it.
I said, 'Okay. Let's give it a shot.' Twenty-one years later, I'm still doing it. Teaching found me and grabbed me and pulled me in.— Matt Foley, 2026 Fayette County Teacher of the Year
After 12 years at Flat Rock, the chance to teach political science classes at his alma mater was too good to pass up.
You can go back to the place where you graduated and teach exactly what your college degree was based on. I've got to give this a shot.— Matt Foley, 2026 Fayette County Teacher of the Year
At FCHS, Foley teaches American government, AP American government, and AP macroeconomics. He says the diversity of viewpoints in his classroom is one of the things he values most — and his favorite moments come when a debate takes on a life of its own.
That's always fun when the kids take over and they start going and I can just step back and just watch it happen.— Matt Foley, 2026 Fayette County Teacher of the Year
For Foley, the subject matter carries particular weight because of where his students are in their lives. Most are 17 or 18 and on the verge of adulthood — and government and economics, he points out, will surround them every day for the rest of their lives.
Helping students become the most capable versions of themselves, I think that's my biggest why. I want them to know how to think, how to communicate, how to work with people that they don't necessarily agree with. Watching kids realize that they're capable of more than they first thought they were, that never gets old.— Matt Foley, 2026 Fayette County Teacher of the Year
Foley attended East Fayette Elementary, Fayette Middle, and FCHS before his roundabout journey through pre-law studies, aviation, and substitute teaching brought him back to the same hallways. His story is also featured on 'The Honor Role,' Fayette County Public Schools' official podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, according to fayette-news.net.
Why it matters — Foley's selection spotlights a teacher who has spent two decades helping teenagers develop the civic and critical-thinking skills they'll use for the rest of their lives — in the same community, and even the same classroom, where he first learned them himself.
⚠ Not yet confirmed
- Foley began his teaching career approximately 21 years before 2026, placing the start around 2004-2005
- exact date April 16, 2026
- names of other finalists Dr. Courtney Adams and Erin Keith
- district process details including peer votes and 25 nominees
- attribution to fcboe.org
- department chair title
Reported by fcboe.org, thecitizen.com, fayette-news.net
Where this comes from
Written by Papalocal's AI from these outlets' reporting. It can miss or misread things; the outlets are the record.