Legislative Tracker on Education

Prichard Priority Coverage

Priority: Early Childhood

The Prichard Committee supports legislation and funding to raise participation and quality in early childhood programs, including:

  • Include high-quality child care in the delivery mix for preschool services
  • Raising CCAP and public preschool eligibility to at least 200% of the federal poverty level, while increasing per child funding/reimbursement (Big Bold Ask)
  • Expanding HANDS, Kentucky’s home visiting program to support families with children under age 3

Legislative Tracker on Education

MONITORING

Monitoring Title Sponsor Background Information or Position
House Bill 17 Remove the option for school districts to provide half-day kindergarten only. Timmy Truett Support so long as state funding for full day kindergarten continues in state budget.
House Bill 18 Expands the dual credit scholarship to include two career and technical education courses, raises the tuition ceiling amount, and expands access to high school freshman and sophomores. James Tipton
House Bill 33 Establishes the Innovative Teacher Education Grant Program to curtail teacher shortages. James Tipton Teaching Matters Most
House Bill 50 Require the offices of boards of education to have a partisan primary or partisan election Matt Lockett Oppose – Rose v. Council for Better Education. Inc. (Ky. 1989) ruled that, “Common schools shall be monitored by the General Assembly to assure that they are operated with.   .   .no political influence.” See page 26, Item no. 6 HERE

Lockett & Hodgson Letter

Kentucky schools need local collaboration, not partisan politics

House Bill 145 Establish the Commonwealth Education Continuum to encourage and support collaboration, information sharing, and a shared vision for increasing educational opportunity and achievement at all levels of Kentucky’s education system, prekindergarten through postsecondary education, to increase students’ access to degrees and credentials that lead to sustainable, competitive-wage careers James Tipton
House Bill 171 Require completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form as a high school graduation requirement Steve Riley Opposed
HB 305 Permit health care personnel, school personnel, social workers, child-care personnel, and long-term care personnel to participate in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) regardless of income eligibility guidelines. Raymond
HB 319  Implement the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact;  require exit surveys from school personnel leaving employment; require the Kentucky Department of Education to develop a system for reporting exit survey data; direct the Council on Postsecondary Education to develop a marketing program to promote the teaching profession. Tipton GA 2023 Support Letter

Delivered to Governor

HB30HB120, and HB 177 Address issues of health in schools and include provisions which are contrary to what have been deemed evidence-based health and mental health practices. Letter from the Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children
Senate Bill 25 Include achieving three hours of dual credit or qualifying for three hours of postsecondary articulated credit as a postsecondary readiness indicator. Mike Wilson Signed by Governor
Senate Bill 50 Require the offices of boards of education to have a partisan primary or partisan election D. Thayer Oppose – Rose v. Council for Better Education. Inc. (Ky. 1989) ruled that, “Common schools shall be monitored by the General Assembly to assure that they are operated with.   .   .no political influence.” See page 26, Item no. 6 HERE

Kentucky schools need local collaboration, not partisan politics

SB 70 Implement the performance-based professional development pilot project from the 2023-2024 school year Givens GA 2023 Support Letter

Signed by Governor

SB 107 Establish the Board of Education Nomination Committee, set requirements for appointees, and term limitations.  Require the commissioner of education to be subject to Senate confirmation, be subject to an annual review by the Kentucky Board of Education, and provide that the commissioner of education shall serve for a defined employment contract term not to exceed 4 years. Wilson Letter to Senator Wilson

Veto Overridden

SB 150 Require specific parental notifications from public schools; require school districts to adopt specific procedures related to parental rights; limit authority of the Kentucky Board of Education and Kentucky Department of Education in relation to parental rights and a student’s use of pronouns; prohibit district or school policies with the intent of keeping student information confidential for parents; prohibit a school district from requiring school personnel or pupils to use pronouns for students that do not conform to that student’s biological sex Wise Letter from the Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children

Veto Overridden

SB 156 Establish a statewide reading research center; direct the center and the Kentucky Department of Education to establish annual goals and performance objectives; require KDE to make annual programming and funding recommendations for the center; require KDE to select the center through a competitive proposal process West GA 2023 Support Letter

Signed by Governor

FOLLOWING

Following Title Sponsor
House Bill 1 The public income tax is lowered from 5% to 4.5%, and later to 4%. Brandon Reed
House Bill 15 Provides unpaid leave to provide for a child for a family member of an employee Cherlynn Stevenson
House Bill 27 Exempts “learning pods” from standards governing child care and family child care homes. Felica Rayborn
House Bill 31 Prevents the requirement of the COVID-19 vaccine to attend school. S. McPherson
House Bill 32 Allows school districts to hire classified staff without a high school diploma or equivalent if the district provides the opportunity for the applicant to obtain a high school equivalency diploma. Kevin Jackson
House Bill 35 Require school districts to provide full day preschool to all eligible 3- and 4-year-olds. Josie Raymond
House Bill 41 Develop a foster care student toolkit to provide resources and information to assist school personnel in addressing the unique educational needs of foster children. Timmy Truett
House Bill 82 Require rather than allow local boards of education to develop policy on dyslexia and require postsecondary institutions offering teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia . Tina Bojanowski
House Bill 85 Allow a student who attends an out-of-state high school or Department of Defense school due to a parent’s military transfer to earn a KEES award if the student earned a base amount in a previous year at a Kentucky high school. William Lawrence
House Bill 88 Appropriate General Fund moneys to provide for universal preschool for all four-year-olds Derrick Graham
House Bill 91 Appropriation to support the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Talent Pipeline Management Program Derrick Graham
House Bill 92 Require that a parent or guardian be permitted to opt a student of any public school requirement for medical devices and procedures, and treatments. J. Calloway
House Bill 99 Require the Kentucky Department of Education to create a professional development training schedule for certified personnel; require each local district to implement the schedule; require an additional day to be added to the school calendar if required training cannot be completed in a single calendar day. Jason Nemes
House Bill 101  Prohibit administrative regulations of the Kentucky Board of Education from requiring students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend school. Jennifer Decker
House Bill 119 Authorize participation in a public school interscholastic extracurricular activity by an at-home private school student. Ryan Dotson
House Bill 126 Amend various sections of KRS Chapter 161 to remove provisions of HB 258 enacted during the 2021 Regular Session that created and adjusted benefits for individuals who become members of the Teachers’ Retirement System on or after January 1, 2022; provide that these members shall be eligible for the benefits applicable to members who entered the system immediately prior to January 1, 2022 Cherylynn Stevenson
House Bill 136 Amend various sections of KRS Chapter 161 to remove provisions of HB 258 enacted during the 2021 Regular Session that created and adjusted benefits for individuals who become members of the Teachers’ Retirement System on or after January 1, 2022; provide that these members shall be eligible for the benefits applicable to members who entered the system immediately prior to January 1, 2022 William Lawrence
HB 137 Allow a student, staff, or faculty member to opt out of a postsecondary school’s immunization policy for specific reasons Maddox
HB 138 No longer prohibit the carrying of concealed deadly weapons in schools Maddox
HB 139 Require an institution to adopt a policy to not restrict off-campus speech; extend free speech protections to the public; provide that student religious and political organizations shall be afforded equal access to facilities; provide that authority vested with a student organization to distribute student organization funding shall be contingent on viewpoint-neutral distribution of those funds Maddox
HB 158 Remove the requirement that a teacher or employee submit an affidavit to take sick and personal leave. Timoney
HB 161 Require each local school board to include at least one student representative. Willner
HB 165 Clean-up legislation from last year’s HB 499, the employee child-care assistance bill. The change will require a report from the Cabinet in 2023 rather than 2024. It also allows a child care provider to terminate a contract created pursuant to the program. Heavrin
HB 168 Prohibit public postsecondary education institution from engaging in certain activities with foreign countries of concern; require public postsecondary education institutions to submit certain agreements with foreign countries of concern to appropriate federal agencies for review and notice; require all postsecondary institutions, affiliated corporations, and associated organizations to submit semiannual reports to the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Auditor of Public Accounts for gifts of $50,000 or more from foreign sources Williams
HB 173 Establish specific parental rights as related to public schools; require public schools to adopt policies to protect those rights Calloway
HB 174 Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to authorize the General Assembly to provide for the educational costs of elementary and secondary school students outside of the public school system. Calloway
HB 177 Establish specific rights of parents, with some limitations; provide that specific governmental employees shall not encourage or coerce a child to withhold information from a parent Baker
HB 189 Remove the transfer of net lottery revenues to the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development Banta
HB 203 Require public middle and high school curriculum to include instruction on the history of racism. Swann
HB 216 Establish the employer student loan repayment tax credit Kulkarni
HB 227 Establish a school fiscal impact statement to evaluate the potential costs that would be incurred by school districts and other parts of the common school system by passing certain legislation Bauman
HB 241 Clarify the evidence requirements for exemption from compulsory attendance due to physical or mental conditions. Bray
HB 242 Establish an attendance threshold for citizen members of the Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity; establish reporting requirements for appointments and reappointments Timoney
HB 259 Changes to state budget processes Petrie
HB 269  Allow parental depression screenings to be claimed as a service for the child as part of the Early and Periodic, Diagnostic and Treatment benefit and require the Kentucky Children’s Insurance Program to cover parental depression screenings. Wilner
HB 274 Require the Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) program to provide educational information about maternal and postpartum depression Burke
HB 288 Prohibit a public school district or public charter school from entering a nondisclosure agreement relating to misconduct involving a minor or student; require school district applicants to disclose being the subject of any allegations or investigations in the previous 12 months and consent to a reference check; require school districts to conduct reference checks; require nonpublic and public school districts to disclose any allegations or investigations related to abusive conduct of applicants Tipton
HB 289 Provide a merger process for contiguous school districts; require an insolvent district to be merged with a contiguous school district Tipton
HB 293 Prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity Herron
HB 306 Require child care centers are tested for radon. Raymond
HB 316 Permit non-voting teacher representatives on local school boards. Bojanowski
HB 318 Establish Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) eligibility at 200% FPL Laferty
HB 327 Require African history instruction in certain middle and high school world history and civilization courses; require Native American history instruction in certain middle and high school United States history courses Herron
HB 365 Require each local school board and public charter school board to annually review and revise its trauma-informed approach plan; require each local board to submit the plan as part of its comprehensive district improvement plan to the Kentucky Department of Education. Wilner
HB 387 Organizes the newly created committees on Children & Families and Health Services Heavrin
HB 389 Require superintendents and public charter school boards to adopt a common comprehensive reading program that is determined by the department to be reliable, valid, and aligned to required reading and writing standards. Banta
HB 390 Establish the Student Teacher Stipend Program; define eligibility for the program; direct the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to administer the program; provide an award of up to $8000 to an eligible student teachers. Banta
HB 406 Provide that a parent member on a screening committee shall not be employed by the school district; require greater minority representation on a screening committee in a school district with a minority student population of 50 percent or greater. Chester-Burton
HB 412 Extend the expiration of KEES eligibility from five to eight years from high school graduation. Stevenson
HB 435 Require teachers to be compensated for noninstructional planning time within their school day during which they are required to supervise or instruct students; expand the program eligibility of the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program to include a program that leads to a bachelor’s degree in education in a critical shortage area. Bojanowski
HB 474 Require African history instruction in certain middle and high school world history and civilization courses; require Native American history instruction in certain middle and high school United States history courses Brown
HB 504 Transition the school funding model from using average daily attendance to average daily membership. Tipton
HB 553 Amend the 2022-2024 Executive Branch biennial budget to remove excess General Fund support for the actuarial cost of sick leave benefits for new retirees under the Teachers’ Retirement System. Petrie
Senate Bills
Senate Bill 22  Change the public high school nonvoting student member to a voting member of the Kentucky Board of Education; add an at-large member to the board; require at least two of the members to have a child enrolled in public school Reginald Thomas
Senate Bill 24 Include an equivalent score on the Classic Learning Test as a KEES supplemental amount J. Schickel
SB 49 To address teacher shortages, this would expand from 2 to 4 years the provisional time period under Option 6 & 7 of the alternative certification process. Carpenter
SB 54 Combines KEES scholarships for proprietary schools bill with a couple of other KEES clean-up items. Companion to HB 85. Carpenter
SB 102 Make legislative findings and declarations on the rights of parents as it relates to public schools and establish a standard to protect those rights; require public schools to establish a process to receive complaints of violations; create a cause of action for violations and establish limitations; establish specific parental rights as related to public schools; require public schools to adopt policies to protect those rights; require the Kentucky Department of Education to eliminate administrative regulations in violation and develop recommended policies to public schools for compliance Tichenor
SB 169 Relating to public-private partnerships, to redefine “local government” to include local school district; and grant a local board of education the authority to enter into public-private partnerships on behalf of a local school district. Wise
SB 202 Provide a local school board the option to place a student in an alternative program or setting in lieu of expulsion. West
SB 236 Specify that a local board of education cannot appoint the superintendent as secretary to the board. Southworth
SB 247 Require eligible students to have the option to remain in the same school when changing residence within the same school district; define “eligible student”; require the school district to provide transportation to the school from the student’s new residence. Givens
SB 270 Make June 19, also known as “Juneteenth National Freedom Day,” a state holiday for state employees. Neal