[i82much]

I'm glad Ashland has finally found a way to get turf via a private donor.  It seems like this has been rumored for years.

Admittedly, I know nothing about how schools are financed, but could someone tell me how is it that Boyd County and Raceland have far nicer athletic facilities than any other schools in the region? 

Logically, I would have thought that Russell or Ashland would have always had the nicest things since their tax base and alumni are likely richer than others in the region.  They're also the historically best athletic programs in the region.

What are Boyd County and Raceland doing right and the others doing wrong?

I'm not sure Russell and Ashland have taken a back seat to anyone. Russell has a beautiful primary school along with McDowell Intermediate, which the research says is the most effective "grade setup" for educating kids. They also have an historic high school and very nice football stadium. Ashland has held on to the traditional elementary school setup with a middle school servicing grades 6-8. When the 6th grade was moved to Verity there was an extensive remodel along with the addition of a new wing and one of the best middle school gyms you'll find anywhere. The Blazer campus is one of a kind and I hope they always hold onto it. In terms of sports facilities, the 1st phase of the Putnam Stadium refurb was well done. They kept just the right amount of new to mesh well with the historical look of stadium. The addition of turf has always been controversial at Ashland. Playing on the same dirt, grass, sod, etc. that generations before you have played on is cool and has been understandably hard to give up. They also have a separate track and soccer complex. Heck, my Rams won't even entertain the thought of soccer and have grouped students according to physical building programs rather than sound educational research (e.g. the old 7-12 high school grouping and now the new 4-8 middle school grouping).  I'm a Raceland, Russell, and Ashland guy so I won't comment on Boyd County since my knowledge there is limited. Don't get me wrong, I love the facilities at Raceland but being new doesn't necessarily mean better and it definitely doesn't mean the other schools are doing something wrong.  If I had one knock on Ashland and Russell it would be their basketball facilities, they both need attention....