Gov. Andy Beshear, flanked by opponents of Amendment 2, spoke at a news conference Tuesday at Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

LEXINGTON —? Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear joined teachers union president Randi Weingarten Tuesday to rally opponents of a constitutional amendment that they warned would defund Kentucky’s public schools.

Beshear took issue with what he called “misinformation” being spread by supporters of Amendment 2. “You don’t have to read very far to know that those trying to get you to vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 2 aren’t telling you the truth,” Beshear said — a criticism later disputed by Jim Waters of the conservative Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, which supports the amendment.

If voters approve the measure’s changes to the state Constitution, Kentucky’s legislature would for the first time be free to put public money into private schools. Kentucky is one of three states with similar questions on the ballot this fall.

Weingarten, president of the 1.8 million-member AFT which represents teachers, nurses and other professions, stopped for a news conference at Consolidated Baptist Church as part of a pre-election bus tour through multiple states where AFT is supporting political allies including the Democratic presidential ticket.

Weingarten, an attorney and former history teacher, praised the protections for public schools in Kentucky’s Constitution. “I’m here to say to Kentucky, if we want to have that Kentucky culture of public schooling being the equalizer for all? kids, we need to vote ‘no’ on Amendment 2.”

She said that in states that have funded vouchers to help pay private school tuition, most of the parents using them were already sending their kids to private schools. “And, in fact, many private schools in the country have raised their tuition.”

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia fund some? form of vouchers that provide a set amount of money for private? school tuition, according to the Education Commission of the? States. Thirty-three states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have some form of “school choice” program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for the programs.

Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, told the gathering that voucher programs are failing students. He said 20 years of research led him to “call vouchers the education equivalent of predatory lending” because kids who leave public schools to attend the non-elite private schools that will accept them suffer declines in academic performance.

Cowen, formerly a professor at the University of Kentucky, is the author of “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers” published recently by Harvard Education Press.

“When it comes to vouchers, it isn’t the school choice at all. It’s the school’s choice. The schools are doing the choosing,” Cowan said, adding that “30% of kids who do come to a voucher school from a public school end up leaving within the first couple of years … because they’re pushed out, asked to leave or they just can’t make it work.”

The movement toward school vouchers has been fueled by a network of super wealthy individuals and their nonprofit advocacy groups, most prominently Americans for Prosperity linked to Charles and David Koch. Another wealthy champion of school choice, Jeff Yass, a billionaire options? trader who lives near Philadelphia, has also put millions into a political action committee associated with Republican Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who is featured in television ads supporting Amendment? 2.

Saying he wanted to address “three pieces of misinformation,” Beshear ?said a pro-Amendment 2 flier had implied that he supported the measure because it would give him more options. “Let me be clear, I’m fully opposed to Amendment 2.”

Beshear also disputed assertions in advertising for Amendment 2 that its passage would raise teachers’ pay, saying “that? fails math.” Beshear also said that even though supporters ?argue that Amendment 2 in itself makes no policy changes, Republican lawmakers through their past votes for charter schools and a tax credit to support private schools have made their intentions clear, even as their commitment to further cuts in the state income tax will reduce revenue available for education.

“Amendment 2 would allow Frankfort politicians to take taxpayer money away from public schools and send it to unaccountable? private schools,” Besher said. ”Let me tell you the people of Kentucky do not want that and when they are educated on what this amendment will actually do, they will vote against it as many? times as you’ll let them.”

Waters? of the Bluegrass Institute disputed Beshear’s assertion that Amendment 2 supporters are spreading misinformation.

“Voters are not voting on vouchers or any type of policy. The amendment removes barriers so legislators can create school choice policies without being struck down by the courts.”

Waters also said data show that teacher pay is “positively affected by choice policy.” The Bluegrass Institute in August published a brief by John Garren, a University of Kentucky emeritus professor of? economics, that found “increased school choice raises the demand for teachers’ services” and that “this increased? demand pushes up pay for teachers generally in public, private, and charter schools.”

Students arrive at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville in January 2022. (Getty Images)

Amid calls in the Republican-controlled legislature to deconsolidate Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, a new study found that some states that have proposed splitting up large urban districts ultimately did not put those changes into law.?

The Office of Education Accountability, an agency that researches education for the legislature, studied school governance models across the country and presented its findings to Kentucky lawmakers on the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee Tuesday morning. Other findings in the report included that consolidating school districts can result in long-term saving costs but local communities often oppose it.

Co-chair of the subcommittee, Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, asked OEA presenters if consolidation had a positive impact on student performance. OEA Research Division Manager Deborah Nelson said the research on the effects of consolidation were inconclusive.?

Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, asked if deconsolidation has an effect on student performance. Bojanowski teaches at a JCPS elementary school.?

“If you took a large urban school district and split it up, is there any evidence that you would have improved academic outcomes?” she asked. Nelson said there has not been a state deconsolidation of large districts, so it cannot be studied. Some small districts have succeeded from a larger district, but there have not been studies on student achievement in those cases.?

According to the OEA study, Nevada’s legislature considered dividing the Clark County School District in Las Vegas in 1997 but no legislation to that effect was approved. In New Mexico, legislation in 2017 included a provision to deconsolidate districts with more than 40,000 students but it did not pass. In Nebraska, legislation was passed in 2006 to deconsolidate Omaha Public Schools, but the legislation was later repealed.?

“We have no data we can point to for deconsolidation,” West said in a subsequent comment. “In the case of JCPS, for us as a state, we don’t have a lot to go on, really, is what you’re telling us.”?

Last year, a group of Republican lawmakers called for exploring legislative changes to JCPS after a bus-scheduling? debacle delayed the start of the school year. Among policies they wanted to tackle was creating a commission to evaluate splitting up JCPS, the state’s largest school system.?

During the 2024 legislative session, the General Assembly approved a task force to review governance of the school system. That group has met during the legislative interim and any recommendations it will make must be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission by Dec. 1.?

Louisville residents expressed concerns about deconsolidation during two task force meetings held at local schools. A co-chair of the task force, Sen. Michael Names, R-Shepherdsville, told reporters after the first local meeting that he suspected no legislation could come from the task force next legislative session because of the amount of information the task force wants to review.

On other issues, OEA’s report found that Kentucky’s school governance laws for state and local boards of education were similar to most states in the U.S. and that state takeover of school districts can often lead to some improvements for districts’ fiscal health but “on average, does not lead to improvements in student achievement.”?

The report did study authorization models for charter schools and noted that while Kentucky law does have a governance framework for charter schools, none are currently operating in the state. States with charter schools have varying authorizers.?

In Kentucky, authorizers can be the local school board in the district where the charter school would be located or a group of local school boards formed to make a regional charter school. There are also two local government authorizer options: the mayor of a consolidated local government or the chief executive office of an urban-county government.?

Louisville has a consolidated local government plan. Lexington operates under an urban-county government model.?

Flash flooding inundated much of Southeastern Kentucky in July 2022, including Breathitt County, above. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Researchers at public universities in Kentucky and West Virginia are planning to collaborate alongside local residents on a four-year project to better understand, predict and prepare for flash flooding in Appalachia and climate change’s impacts on it.?

Surface coal mining worsened deadly Eastern Kentucky floods in July 2022, study shows

A nearly $1.1 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation will bring together civil engineers and scientists from environmental and social fields to study a range of topics, including soil moisture’s impact on flash flooding. Researchers also will gauge monitors installed in waterways to help tailor flooding solutions “to community goals, serving as a model for resilience planning in vulnerable communities across the U.S.,” according to the project’s description.?

Researchers will analyze decades of precipitation and streamflow data from the University of Kentucky’s Robinson Forest in Breathitt County and install soil moisture sensors throughout the research forest to better understand flooding in headwater streams.?

Christopher Barton, a University of Kentucky professor of forest hydrology and watershed management and principal investigator for the project, in a statement said researchers want to do everything they can “to build up the infrastructure to understand, predict and prepare for flash floods in this region.”?

“To best help, we also must understand how climate change and landscape alterations affect flash floods,” Barton said.?

The “novel collaboration” is also funding researchers from the University of Louisville, Eastern Kentucky University, West Virginia University and Marshall University. A main goal of the collaboration is developing improved early warning systems to alert communities when flash floods are worsening.

Eastern Kentucky University will also be using the funding to aid high school and middle school teachers develop science education programming and plant trees as a part of reforestation efforts to mitigate flash floods.

A young boy walks down a hallway at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky is one of three states with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Supporters of school choice in Kentucky are hoping voters will do what the state courts wouldn’t — allow a new path for state-supported payments to private schools.

Kentucky is one of three states, along with Colorado and Nebraska, with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. Voters will be asked to decide whether public money should go to support private education. Opponents say the measures would undermine public schools by shifting money from them, while backers maintain that state aid would give parents more control over their kids’ education.

In West Kentucky, people like their schools, ponder ‘choice’ amendment’s implications

The measures come as school choice gains momentum across the country. Thirty-three states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico already have at least one kind of school choice program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for the programs. They range from education savings accounts sponsored by the state to voucher programs to various types of tax credits that help provide scholarships or cover educational expenses for private schools.

But the measures have sparked some controversy. In Arizona, which in 2023 became the first state to make all students, regardless of family income, eligible for a school voucher, parents have tried to use the voucher money for dune buggies and expensive Lego sets.

Teachers unions and other public school professionals generally oppose the school choice plans, while many conservative politicians, religious institutions and private educational groups are in favor, along with some people of color in districts with underperforming public schools.

The choice programs have had difficulty gaining traction in rural areas, where there are fewer private schools than in cities and suburbs.

To overcome that resistance in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has worked hard to elect like-minded allies to the state’s legislature. He led a multimillion-dollar political offensive that resulted in six Republican House members who opposed his school choice initiative being defeated in primaries this year. Stateline reported earlier this year that Abbott is within a couple of votes of being able to enact a school choice program when the legislature reconvenes in January.

Ballot measures

In Kentucky, the Republican-dominated legislature approved a program in 2021 to give tax credits to individuals or businesses for donations to nonprofits that provide scholarships for students who attend private schools.

GOP leaders say policy debates are to come as Democrats decry Amendment 2 as ‘blank check’

Lawmakers narrowly overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of the measure. But the state’s Supreme Court ruled the plan unconstitutional in December 2022.

And last year, a circuit court judge struck down a 2022 Kentucky law that would have allowed public funding of charter schools. Kentucky currently has no operating charter schools. Such schools are publicly funded but run by outside organizations that operate them autonomously, without many of the rules governing traditional public schools.

Now, advocates want Kentucky voters to approve Amendment 2, which would change the state Constitution to ?allow the tax credits and public funding of charter and private schools.

The proposed constitutional amendment would give the legislature authority to pass laws providing state funding for the education of students outside the public school system. It says lawmakers could do so despite the parts of the Kentucky Constitution that forbid state funds to be used for “any church, sectarian or denominational school.”

The ballot measure would give the legislature the authority to pass laws similar to the ones that were thrown out, according to Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, a strong supporter of the referendum.

“We passed [private education] scholarships in the past,” Thayer said in a phone interview. “Those would be on the table in the near future if the amendment is passed.”

He said it would give parents “the ability to send a child to a different school if the public school isn’t giving them what they need, private or parochial.”

But a coalition of public education advocates formed the group Protect Our Schools KY to oppose the amendment. Tom Shelton, a retired Kentucky school superintendent and a leader in the campaign effort, said it is a travesty to send public money “to unaccountable private schools” when public schools in the state could use the funds.

He said rural areas would fare particularly poorly under a proposal that would allow public money to go to private educational entities. Shelton said the vast majority of the private schools in Kentucky are in the two biggest cities of Louisville and Lexington — meaning that rural public schools would lose money diverted to private schools and that rural students would be less able to take advantage of the change.

“Who’s going to lose most? The rural poor kids,” Shelton said.

In some cases, private schools have raised tuition in states with school choice. And The Wall Street Journal has reported that vouchers tend to mostly benefit families who already have students in private schools.

In Nebraska, voters will choose whether to partially repeal a law enacted this year that allows the state to run a $10 million educational scholarship program for private school students.

The state’s highest court determined in September that the referendum can stay on the ballot.

State Sen. Dave Murman, a proponent of school choice who identifies as a Republican in the nonpartisan Nebraska legislature, said he’s disappointed that the referendum was allowed to proceed.

Murman said he expects the referendum vote to be close.

He postulated that public schools are “afraid of the competition. They are afraid they will lose students to private schools.” But he said he hopes public schools will improve in the face of competition.

But Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, which supports the referendum, said there is already competition among public schools.

“In 1989, Nebraska created ‘option enrollment’ that allows any family to attend any public school in the state as long as they are not at capacity,” he told Stateline.

He said the teachers union could have fought the law directly in the courts, but thought it would be better to put it on the ballot and let the voters decide. Teachers think parents and students are happy with the public school choices they have now, he said.

In Colorado, the ballot measure would enshrine a school choice option in the state constitution. It would add language saying that each “K-12 child has the right to school choice” and that “parents have the right to direct the education of their children.” School choice would explicitly include neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, homeschools, open enrollment options and future innovations in education.

Northern Kentucky developers, teachers unions fuel Amendment 2 money race

Conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado proposed?the amendment. Colorado already allows students to attend any public school — even outside their district — for free and has long had charter schools. Critics of the ballot measure say it would open the door to private school vouchers, though backers argue that’s not their intent and that it’s simply meant to protect charter schools. Some Colorado Democrats last year proposed tightening requirements on charter schools.

Ongoing disputes

States with existing school choice programs have encountered pushback this year.

The South Carolina Supreme Court last month threw out the state’s voucher program, leaving parents who already have received funds scrambling. State education officials and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster asked the court to reconsider the ruling, but the high court refused to rehear the case in early October, likely ending any possibility of resuming private tuition payments this year.

In Arizona, reports of misuse of funds to buy equipment not directly tied to a curriculum prompted the state attorney general to open an investigation. The state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program allows parents to use state money for various educational costs, including tuition and school supplies.

School voucher proponents spend big to overcome rural resistance

But after the school system clarified documentation requirements that purchases be tied to a curriculum, the Goldwater Institute, a conservative Arizona think tank, sued the state Department of Education over the requirements, on behalf of some homeschool parents. The institute called the verification requirements an “absurd new burden” on homeschooling parents that would prevent them from buying pencils, flash cards and other equipment not specifically called for in homeschool curricula.

The Grand Canyon Institute, a centrist think tank focused on economics, found in a report last month that Arizona’s voucher accounts had $360 million unspent by parents as of June.

“These parents have chosen not to spend the money on their children’s education,” Dave Wells, research director for the institute, said in a phone interview. “There’s no follow-up to see if the kids are doing well.”

The institute recommended that the state follow up on the money to see whether and where it is being spent.

Responding to the report, education department spokesperson Doug Nick told Arizona radio station KJZZ that the department administers the program as directed under state law.

“If the legislature makes changes to the law, we will comply with those changes,” he said.

This story is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Multiple Grammy winner Janis Ian, left, in 2008 plays with the late Jean Ritchie, a Kentuckian who grew up in Viper in Perry County and after moving to New York became a celebrated artist in the folk music revival. (Photo courtesy of Janis Ian)

It was big news last year when singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy winner Janis Ian announced Berea College would be the home for her archives.?

How Janis Ian’s ‘life’ came to Berea College

Berea College archivists have been working with the collection since the first materials arrived and are now ready to share some of what they’ve cataloged. The college is celebrating the archives’ opening with a series of events Oct. 17-20.

Ian’s archives span over a century, beginning with her grandparents’ immigration papers early in the 20th century through Ian’s career performing around the world and with musical legends including Joan Baez, Leonard Berstein, Dolly Parton and many others, to her advocacy for civil, women’s and LGBTQ rights.?

Click here for information about the “Breaking Silence” celebration and a short video in which project archivist Peter Morphew offers an introduction to the collection.?

Some highlights of the weekend’s events:

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19: During the day guests can see samples from the Ian archives in the Hutchins Library atrium as well as archival footage from Ian’s public addresses and concerts.

7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18: The play “Mama’s Boy,” written by Ian’s mother, Pearl, will be performed at the Jelkeyl Drama Center.

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19: Janis Ian Tribute Concert at Phelps Stokes Chapel emceed by Silas House will feature Amythyst Kiah, Aoife Scott, Melissa Carper, S.G Goodman, Senora May.

Kentuckians will be voting this fall on two constitutional amendments. This is the view approaching the Sugar Maple Square polling site in Bowling Green, May 21, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

To help voters better understand Amendment 2, which would allow Kentucky’s legislature to steer public dollars into nonpublic schools, LINK nky and Educate NKY will host a Community Conversation next week.

The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 14? at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Public Library. RSVP for a free ticket to the in-person event here, or watch live on the Link nky Facebook page.

Evan Millward, who was previously an anchor and reporter with WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, will be moderating the event.?

Speakers will be:?

• Brigitte Blom, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a public school advocacy group that has come out publicly against Amendment 2. Before coming to the Prichard Committee, Blom was director of public policy for United Way of Greater Cincinnati with a focus on early childhood policy. Blom has worked in policy, research, and advocacy on issues related to education, poverty, and state taxes and budgets – including work for universities in Ohio and Kentucky and for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
• Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, which is advocating for the passage of Amendment 2. Waters has been with the free-market public policy think tank since 2003.?
• Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform. In his two terms as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, Elorza worked to engage the state department of education to turn around the city’s school system. Democrats for Education Reform was created in 2007 to address education inequality in public schools across the country. Neither Elorza or Democrats for Education reform have taken a public stance on Amendment 2.
• Lauren Hodge, the director of foundational education at yes. every kid. foundation., whose mission is to promote education that empowers families, helps implement bottom-up solutions, and advances education freedoms across the country, according to its website. Hodge previously worked at EdChoice as a state director and on the Legal Defense in Education team. She also litigated for several years in the public sector in Indiana in both criminal and civil courts. Hodge and yes. every kid. foundation. have not taken a stance on Amendment 2.?

How would Amendment 2 change Kentucky classrooms like this one at Mayfield High School? (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — With the general election next month, Kentucky’s top Democrats and Republicans are both criticizing what they say is misinformation about a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

Amendment 2, which Kentucky voters will decide, was a top priority for GOP lawmakers during this year’s legislative session; Democrats consistently opposed the idea. The partisan skirmish continues in the race to sway voters.

Speaking with reporters in Frankfort this week, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne, both Republicans, said unfounded speculation about what the amendment would do is an obstacle for its supporters to overcome.

Stivers and Osborne stressed that the amendment merely lowers constitutional barriers that in the past have blocked the legislature from expanding what its supporters call “school choice.”

Opponents warn that if Amendment 2 is approved, the Republican-controlled legislature would create a system of vouchers, as 10 states have done, to help families pay for private school tuition diverting funds from public schools.

“I think what some people are saying about the amendment is not accurate,” Stivers said. “There is nothing in the amendment except it would allow the legislature to go beyond what the constitutional definition of common schools are.”?

In the past, Stivers said, the focus of “school choice” legislation in Kentucky has been targeted “on failing school systems” but, he said, those laws were declared unconstitutional.?

In recent years, Kentucky courts have struck down the legislature’s attempts to authorize charter schools in the state and tax credits to help families pay private school tuition. Those bills narrowly passed over Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes.?

Amendment 2 would suspend or “notwithstand” seven sections of the state constitution but only to enable “the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools,” according to language approved by the legislature.

If voters approve the? amendment, the Republican leaders said, decisions about next steps would involve stakeholders and extensive debate by lawmakers — debate that Osborne predicted would be “contentious.”

“If you look at the history of the school choice debates in the legislature, they’ve been very contentious, and they’ve been very incremental in the things that they have done,” Osborne said. “I think to expect there to be sweeping legislation that’s going to happen the next day is clearly just not going to happen, but there’s really not been a tremendous amount of discussion about what that policy will look like.”?

Stivers predicted “we’re probably a year away from any type of legislation,” noting that the General Assembly next convenes in January in the middle of a school year. The Kentucky Department of Education, superintendents, teachers and families would also need to give input on any future legislation, he said.?

When lawmakers debated the amendment earlier this year, some Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the ballot measure, particularly those with a history in public education or who represent rural communities.

Meanwhile, Kentucky Democrats point to the lack of specifics in the amendment as a reason voters should defeat it.?

“Amendment 2 is really just a blank check for the Republicans in the General Assembly,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson of Lexington. “Do not let them convince you to write it.”?

Stevenson spoke during a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda last week, along with Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge.

Coleman, who has been traveling the state campaigning against the amendment,? said its supporters are putting out false information. She said she was aware of a recent campaign mailer saying that Gov. Andy Beshear supported it, which is not true.?

“There’s a lot of conversations that still need to be had,” Coleman said. “And it’s my hope that the folks who are tied in the most in our education communities — parents, teachers, volunteers, all of the folks who work in our schools — help to educate the people around them about what this really means.”?

Elridge argued “we don’t even know what the choice actually is” because Republican lawmakers have not shared what changes in policy and law they would pursue if the amendment passes.?

Stevenson called for supporting education by funding universal pre-K programs and pupil transportation along with finding ways to lower class sizes rather than supporting the amendment.?

When asked if it’s a challenge to persuade voters to support Amendment 2 without telling them more about what would come next, Osborne said that “makes it easier for people to distort it” but he thinks “the people of Kentucky are smart enough to figure this out.”?

“Most people do like to maintain status quo, and so that is an impact on any constitutional amendment,” Stivers said.?

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. In-person, excused absentee voting will be held Oct. 23, 24, 25, and Oct. 28, 29, 30. Early in-person, no excuse absentee voting will take place Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 31- Nov. 2. To find out times and locations of? early voting in your county, visit the State Board of Elections website at govote.ky.gov.

Douglas Brinkley

Author and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley will talk about the 2024 election at the University of Kentucky in Lexington on Oct. 8.

The lecture, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Singletary Center for the Arts, is free to the public.

After his presentation Brinkley will participate in a panel discussion led by Kentucky journalist Al Cross and including UK political science professor Stephen Voss and associate public policy professor Annelise Russell.

The event marks the 10th anniversary of the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Lecture held in honor of the late Kentucky governor and U.S. senator from Owensboro. Ford lectured at UK’s Martin School of Public Policy and Administration after retiring from the Senate in 1999.

The Martin School hosts the lecture, which is co-sponsored by UK Libraries and the College of Communication and Information.

Brinkley, an expert on U.S. presidents and American history, is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University. His appearance at UK will come exactly four weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

“Douglas Brinkley is one of the foremost historians and political observers of our time,” said Ron Zimmer, director of UK’s Martin School. “We are looking forward with great anticipation to hearing his perspective on the upcoming presidential election.”

Signs hoisted by the audience for an Amendment 2 debate at the Fancy Farm Picnic express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office sent a cease and desist notice to a public school district that took an online stance against a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

Augusta Independent Schools became the second public school district in the state to openly oppose Amendment 2 via Tuesday night posts on X and Facebook. The amendment has drawn ire from public school officials and Democrats who warn it would reduce dollars now allocated to public education.

The Ohio River school district said in its Facebook post that the amendment would “take public taxpayer dollars and give them to private schools, leaving our public schools with fewer resources.” Tuesday’s post was the first of the district’s “Be Informed Series,” which it said would continue twice a week until Election Day next month.?

“If you believe in strong, well-funded public schools for all students, vote NO on Amendment 2 this November 5th,” the post said. “Protect Kentucky’s Public Schools!”?

Christopher Thacker, general counsel for Coleman, wrote the Wednesday letter to Lisa McCane, the school district’s superintendent calling the anti-amendment posts “partisan political messages” and asked that they be removed.

“We certainly understand that individuals on both sides of the debate over Amendment 2 feel strongly about the issue,” Thacker wrote. “The Office of Attorney General also fully supports the First Amendment rights of all Kentuckians — including school officials — to express their views on this important ballot question. However, public officials may not commandeer public resources to promote their own partisan positions.

“Quite simply, messages that are appropriate for an individual social media account may not be permissible when posted on an official platform that purports to speak for the school district itself, rather than for any single individual or group of individuals.”?

McCane, the Augusta superintendent, was not immediately available for an interview Wednesday. The school district removed the posts Wednesday night and released a new statement online. The district said it intended to inform voters about how the amendment would affect public education and the amendment “would negatively impact the education and services we provide to our students in the Augusta Independent School District.”

Last month, Pulaski County Schools made similar posts on its social media accounts and websites but later removed them after backlash from Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie.?

At the time, Coleman issued an advisory “to remind those entrusted with the administration of tax dollars appropriated for public education that those resources must not be used to advocate for or against” proposed Constitutional Amendment 2. Thacker cited that advisory and the school district’s policy on political activities in his letter to the Augusta superintendent.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is also a former attorney general, questioned the original advisory and asked if it would have been issued in response to lawmakers using their official letterhead or social media accounts to campaign against the amendment.?

“If we are going to put out opinions like this, it has to be content neutral, and it has to apply to more than just a school district fighting for its funding,” the governor said.?

Speaking with reporters Wednesday at the Capitol Annex in Frankfort, Republican House Speaker David Osborne said Coleman has “been pretty clear that we don’t need to clarify” the law around schools issuing political messages.?

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers added that the law also applies to lawmakers. He said they have taken care to not use state resources to advocate for or against the amendment, but have said what the amendment’s language is.?

“That’s it. Not advocating for or against it using state dollars because state dollars shouldn’t be used for political advocacy,” Stivers said.?

At first, comments had been turned off on Augusta Independent’s posts, but were later turned on Wednesday afternoon.?

Augusta Independent had 294 students enrolled last school year, according to Kentucky Department of Education data. Located in Bracken County, the town is in Northern Kentucky.

This story was updated Thursday morning.?

Cease and desist letter to Augusta schools superintendent

Daniel Cameron looks over the crowd after conceding defeat on election night, Nov 7, 2023, in Louisville. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s attorney general and two University of Louisville physicians waged a legal battle for more than a year that almost no one knew about —? even though it involved the Republican candidate for governor and an issue of intense public interest.

The secrecy around the case – from its outset in June of 2023 – is highly unusual. It ended Monday when the file was unsealed under a Franklin Circuit judge’s order. The Lantern first revealed the case’s existence and reported many of its details in August based on a Court of Appeals ruling and sources with knowledge of the situation.?

The newly unsealed file provides further insights into what happened when the powers of Kentucky’s top prosecutor intersected with abortion politics in an election year.

The dispute involved then-Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s efforts to pursue a criminal investigation against the two U of L physicians who, when it was still legal to do so, performed abortions and trained medical students and residents at EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. Cameron also was Kentucky Republicans’ nominee for governor last year.

Kentucky appeals court rejects AG’s efforts to get employment records in abortion case

After the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in the summer of 2022, the physicians testified in court against the near-total abortion ban that immediately took effect in Kentucky.

Cameron, whose office was defending the abortion ban, then sought the physicians’ pay, tax and other records from U of L through the civil discovery process. When that didn’t work he used a grand jury to subpoena the records as part of a criminal investigation that he said would discover whether public dollars had been misused.

In the end, the case turned on what two courts determined were Cameron’s misuse of the grand jury process and his lack of evidence of any crime.

Politics alleged

Lawyers for the physicians argued that Cameron’s actions were motivated by politics, that he was using abortion litigation “for political gain in his gubernatorial campaign” — a claim that Cameron’s office branded “offensive” and “slander.”?

The doctors’ lawyers said Cameron “apparently believes that depicting abortion providers as greedy profiteers advances his arguments that abortions should be outlawed.”?

It’s impossible to know how public knowledge of the case might have affected the 2023 race for governor. By September 2023 — less than two months before the gubernatorial election — the politics of abortion had changed in Kentucky.?

That month Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear began airing powerful commercials featuring a rape victim and a prosecutor criticizing Cameron for opposing exceptions for rape and incest in the abortion ban. And Cameron quickly modified his position, saying he would sign legislation creating exceptions for rape and incest if the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved it.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd tried to unseal the case at that time, but was thwarted by Cameron who immediately appealed the ruling to quash the subpoena and successfully pleaded to keep the case secret at least until the appeals court ruled on its merits.

Beshear defeated Cameron in the governor’s race by about 5 percentage points, and Cameron has since taken a job as executive director of a non-profit group called 1792 Exchange. (That group’s website says it works to? protect small businesses, other non-profits and philanthropic organizations from “woke” corporations.)

AG Coleman ends appeals

Cameron did not respond to an email from the Lantern sent to 1792 Exchange seeking comment on the outcome of his ill-fated investigation.

Current Attorney General Russell Coleman did not ask the Kentucky Supreme Court to review the August Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Shepherd’s decision to quash the subpoena. Rewa Zakharia, chief of the criminal division in Coleman’s office, declined comment on Friday after a court hearing when Shepherd ordered the case finally unsealed. Zakharia referred questions to the office spokesman Kevin Grout, who did not return phone messages from Kentucky Lantern.

One of the attorneys for the doctors, William Brammell, released a statement that said, “We appreciate the judge’s thoughtful handling of this case and ultimate decision to unseal it, making it available to the public.? In a functioning democracy, it’s critical that citizens know what their government is doing and the judge’s decision in this case balances that right to access with our client’s understandable personal privacy interests.”

On Aug. 9 a three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Shepherd’s quashing of the subpoena. Its order said the subpoena amounted to a “fishing expedition” and that Cameron’s premise that tax dollars may have been illegally spent on abortions was not supported by the facts of the case.

The appeals court sent the question of whether the case should be unsealed back to Shepherd. On Friday Shepherd unsealed the case with the exception of one document, and he released 177 pages of records Monday with the names of the physicians redacted.

The U of L physicians and another physician who practiced at EMW Women’s Surgical Center initiated the case on July 21, 2023, asking Franklin Circuit Court to quash a subpoena seeking payroll, personnel and other records

They argued that Cameron unsuccessfully sought the same records in the civil case challenging the constitutionality of Kentucky’s abortion ban and that the material sought was not relevant to any possible criminal charges. They suggested a political motive which Cameron hotly disputed.

“It has become clear that Mr. Cameron will use abortion litigation, against providers and others, for political gain in his gubernatorial campaign.”

Cameron said the subpoena was issued as part of his office’s responsibility to investigate “crimes involving the use of public funds.”

The plaintiffs filed the case under the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and John Row, and asked that the case be sealed to protect their privacy. Cameron offered no objection and Shepherd let the case initially proceed under seal.

As the case proceeded, Shepherd, over the objections of the doctors’ lawyers, gave Cameron the opportunity to present a confidential (“in camera”) written explanation “that will set forth the subject matter of the Attorney General’s investigation.”

Cameron did so. That record remains the only part of the file still sealed. But whatever is in it, it did not convince Shepherd.

Grand jury never asked for or asked for subpoena

The judge wrote a 16-page order quashing the subpoena. Shepherd agreed with nearly all points made by the physicians’ attorneys. He said even the confidential submission from the attorney general “provides no information which grants its office jurisdiction.”

Shepherd said the investigation was brought in the wrong county because the doctors work in Jefferson County. “There is no indication that any of the conduct under investigation took place in Franklin County. Nor is there any allegation that state funds were used directly in any manner that would violate the penal code,” he ruled.

Shepherd noted that while Cameron obtained the subpoena from the clerk of the Franklin Circuit Court, the grand jury never asked for the subpoena or voted to authorize it.

And because the subpoena sought the same records Cameron was unsuccessfully trying to get in the separate civil case, the judge concluded, “this subpoena appears to be a classic ‘fishing expedition.’”

He said the doctors had a right to be concerned the information might be used in a way that would “subject them to vilification or harassment by opponents of abortion.”

The judge also said he was inclined to open the case because the public should know what goes on in court. Shepherd issued a lengthy order in which he attempted to unseal the records. “The Court believes that the public has a right to know, and to decide for themselves, whether the Attorney General is wielding the authority granted to him appropriately and in accordance with the requirements of law.”

But Cameron filed an emergency request to keep the entire file sealed, which the appeals court granted.

In August, the Court of Appeals ruling against Cameron sent the case back to Shepherd to decide whether to unseal the case.

The Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media filed briefs asking that the case be opened.?

Abortion politics: A Kentucky timeline

2019 – Kentucky’s legislature votes along party lines to enact two anti-abortion laws: A ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. A ban on all abortions that would take effect only if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the so-called “trigger law.” Federal courts blocked the six-week ban.

Feb. 26, 2020 – The Family Foundation calls on Attorney General Daniel Cameron to investigate whether medical school faculty at the University of Louisville are violating state law through ties to what was then the state’s only abortion clinic, EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville.

U of L President Neeli Bendapudi firmly rejects the allegations, saying U of L and EMW are separate entities. Residents in obstetrics and gynecology, as part of their training, must learn all aspects of reproductive health care, and abortion provider EMW is the only place they can learn the procedure.

March 30, 2021 – General Assembly approves putting an anti-abortion amendment on the 2022 ballot. It would add a new section stating Kentucky’s Constitution does not secure or protect a right to or funding of abortion.

June 24, 2022 – U.S. Supreme Court ends the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe.

EMW and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville and Kentucky’s only abortion providers, stop performing abortions “out of an abundance of caution.”

June 27, 2022 – EMW and Planned Parenthood file suit in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking to block enforcement of the abortion ban.?

July 6, 2022 – Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry hears arguments from both sides with Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office defending the abortion ban. Among those testifying are two University of Louisville OB/GYNs who provide abortions at EMW and say abortion is essential to health care.

July 7, 2022 – Republican lawmakers in Frankfort grill U of L medical dean Toni Ganzel about whether public funds have been used to provide abortions. He tells them U of L does not pay physicians to perform abortions. Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, tells Ganzel,? “If university funds are used for abortion, the taxpayers ought to know, and the legislature should take that into account when we’re talking about funding the university and other things.”

July 30, 2022 – Judge Perry issues a temporary order allowing abortions to resume in Kentucky.?

Aug. 2, 2022 – Legal abortions stop after the Court of Appeals grants Cameron’s emergency request to reinstate the two laws banning almost all abortions in the state.?

Aug. 3, 2022 – Two U of L professors suspend their work at EMW. U of L pauses its residency training affiliation with EMW until “we can determine the future of the relationship.”

Nov. 8, 2022 – Kentucky voters defeat the anti-abortion constitutional amendment by almost 5 percentage points, 52.3%? to 47.7% or 742,232 votes to 675,634 votes.

Nov. 15, 2022 – Kentucky Supreme Court hears arguments in abortion providers’ challenge of abortion ban.

Feb. 16, 2023 – Kentucky Supreme Court leaves abortion ban in place, saying abortion providers lack standing to challenge the law on behalf of their patients, leaving unanswered questions about the ban’s constitutionality. Calling it a “significant victory,” Cameron says, “We will continue to stand up for the unborn by defending these laws.”

May 16, 2023 – Cameron wins primary, becomes Republican candidate for Kentucky governor, challenging incumbent Andy Beshear, who opposes Kentucky’s no-exceptions abortion ban, calling it “extreme.”

June 2023 – Cameron issues a Franklin County grand jury subpoena for payroll and personnel information for two unnamed U of L employees, seeking evidence that state funds may have been misused. All parties agree to seal the case.

July 2023 – Jane Does and Roe ask Franklin circuit judge to quash the subpoena.

Sept. 1, 2023 – Democrat Beshear’s campaign airs an ad featuring Jefferson County prosecutor Erin White attacking Cameron for opposing abortion ban exceptions, even for rape and incest victims. ?“Cameron believes rapists deserve more rights than their victims. That’s extreme. And it’s dangerous,” she says.

Sept. 18, 2023 – Cameron changes his position on abortion, saying he would sign legislation creating exceptions for rape and incest if the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved it. He later appears to soften that statement to reassure abortion opponents.

Sept. 20, 2023 – Beshear campaign airs ad in which Hadley Duvall says, “This is to you, Daniel Cameron. To tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable.”??

?September 2023 –? Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd quashes the subpoena and tries to unseal the case records. Cameron appeals. Court of Appeals grants his emergency request to keep the case sealed, pending a final outcome.

Oct. 4, 2023 – Russell Coleman, the Republican nominee for attorney general says he supports exceptions for rape and incest and will “call on the General Assembly to take a hard look at that issue.”

Nov. 5, 2023 – Beshear and Coleman win their races by comfortable margins.

Aug. 9, 2024 – Kentucky Court of Appeals rejects the attorney general’s subpoena as an improper “fishing expedition” and outside the scope of the Franklin County grand jury because the records sought by the attorney general are from another county. Returns case to Franklin Circuit Court to consider unsealing the file.

Sept. 20, 2024 – Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media file motion asking that records of the case be unsealed.

Sept. 27, 2024 – Shepherd orders the case unsealed with redactions and excluding an “in camera” filing.

Signs hoisted by the audience for an Amendment 2 debate at the Fancy Farm Picnic express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office has denied a Republican political strategist’s open records request and sided with Pulaski County Schools regarding communications about a proposed constitutional amendment that could affect school funding.

In the decision issued Friday, the attorney general’s office said the school district did not violate the state’s Open Records Act when it “denied the request as unreasonably burdensome” according to state law. Blake Gober, a GOP political strategist, had submitted a request for internal and external communications between school district board members and staff with references to “‘Education Opportunities Constitutional Amendment (Ballot Question 2)’; ‘Amendment 2’; ‘Question 2’; ‘Yes on 2’ or ‘No on 2.’”

A public agency may deny open records requests if producing the records would impose an unreasonable burden or if the records custodian “has reason to believe that repeated requests are intended to disrupt other essential functions of the public agency,” under Kentucky state law. However, the agency must provide evidence to demonstrate that.?

“The District explained that, as written, the request sought 18,473 emails from 2,123 District employees,” the open records decision said. “The District also stated that the requested records would need to be reviewed and redacted for exempt information before they could be produced. Finally, the District invited the Appellant to narrow the parameters of his request, stating it would work with him to fulfill such a subsequent request. This appeal followed.”?

TJ Roberts, an attorney representing Gober in the appeal, said the opinion “was a narrow ruling on the broad nature of the request.” Roberts said Gober plans to narrow his request. Roberts is a Republican candidate for the 66th House District in Northern Kentucky.?

Gober said in a Monday afternoon statement that while he was disappointed in the Attorney General’s office ruling, he was more disappointed by the school district. He said he would file a new request rather than seek an appeal in court to continue “seeking the answers the public deserves while seeking to alleviate the supposed ‘unreasonable burden’ that (the school district) claimed they were facing.”

“Their sole job is to educate but they have chosen to use their publicly funded resources to spread disinformation and lies about Amendment 2,” Gober said. “Rather than put students first, they have chosen to fight for the status quo that is failing so many students across our great Commonwealth.”

Last month, Republicans supporting Amendment 2 criticized Pulaski County Schools for posting messages on its websites and Facebook account advocating against the ballot measure. If it passes this November, the amendment gives the General Assembly the ability to fund nonpublic schools. The Attorney General’s office later published an advisory that warned school districts to not use tax dollars to advocate for or against a constitutional amendment.?

Amid the initial backlash, Pulaski County Schools said in a statement that school board members had received open records requests “for their private cell phone and devices for texts or emails discussing this issue.”?

Around that time, the Kentucky Lantern submitted an open records request to Pulaski County Schools for recent requests regarding Amendment 2. Gober’s request was disclosed in response, as well as a request from the Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity for communications with specific search terms, including “Amendment 2,” and a defined timeframe.

The AFP requester told the Lantern the school district provided documents Monday. AFP is a libertarian conservative advocacy group that is campaigning for Amendment 2 in Kentucky.

Pulaski County Superintendent Patrick Richardson did not immediately return a request for comment Monday morning.

This story was updated with additional comments Monday afternoon.?

Corrie Shull, the chairman of the JCPS Board of Education, left, speaks as Superintendent Marty Pollio listens during a Kentucky House Education Committee meeting at the Capitol in Frankfort, March 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio plans to retire from his post effective next summer.?

Pollio, who has led Kentucky’s largest public school district since 2017, sent a letter to JCPS employees announcing his plans to retire Friday. In recent years, Pollio’s tenure at the school district has been beset by increasing oversight from Republican lawmakers in Frankfort and criticism over transportation issues.?

Pollio said the “journey has not been an easy one,” pointing to the coronavirus pandemic and severe staffing shortages, but added that he was “extremely proud that we made the decision to make the most substantial changes in the history of JCPS despite many challenges.” His retirement is effect July 1, 2025.?

“I am proud that I have served the last eight years in this position given the immense challenges that public school districts face,” Pollio wrote. “If it weren’t for the amazing students of this district, I would not have had the strength and motivation to persevere. I have truly given them my all. I also could not have done this without the support of all the incredible educators and employees in this district and the positive words and encouragement from so many of you. Although not perfect, we have an incredible school district where all of you give so much to meet the needs of ALL children in this community. We need to stand together with pride in that fact.”?

Some of the “major accomplishments” Pollio highlighted in his letter included focusing on “racial equity to improve student outcomes for our historically underserved population,” establishing a facilities plan that includes construction of 24 schools building over the next decade and “successfully navigating through numerous audits and pushing back on attacks from Frankfort since 2017.”?

Earlier this year, Republicans in Frankfort passed a resolution creating a task force to review the governance of JCPS. At the time, Pollio called it another “attack on JCPS” and warned against consolidating the school district.?

Pollio began his career in JCPS as a social studies teacher at Shawnee High School in 1997. His other roles have included principal of Jeffersontown High School and Doss High School. Pollio said he was making his announcement early to give ample time to select his successor. He added that he hopes to “continue positively influencing public education moving forward in Kentucky and even at the national level.”?

“Once again, it has been the honor of my professional career to serve as your superintendent,” Pollio wrote. “I have given every ounce of myself to this role as I know so many of you do daily. Although there have been challenges over my tenure, no one can ever question my passion, fight, and love for Jefferson County Public Schools.”?

Bestselling Canadian novelist and essayist Emily St. John Mandel will discuss her work — including “Station Eleven,” a 2014 novel about a global pandemic’s aftermath —? at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17 at Transylvania University in Lexington.

The event is part of this year’s Bale Boone Symposium organized by the Gaines Center for the Humanities at the University of Kentucky.

Mandel will participate in a moderated conversation with Gaines Center director Michelle Sizemore, who says Mandel’s “work could not be more relevant for our time.”?

In “Station Eleven,” which has been translated in 33 languages and was adapted into an HBO miniseries, “a global pandemic ravages the human population and survivors search for meaning and purpose after civilization’s collapse. The story follows the remarkable journey of the Traveling Symphony, a Shakespeare troupe dedicated to making and sharing art amid the devastation.

“The group’s mantra, ?Survival is Insufficient,’ reinforces not only the basic needs of food, shelter, clean air and water, and health care for our lives, but simultaneously, the necessity of the arts and humanities for our existence,” said Sizemore.

Former President Barack Obama named “The Glass Hotel” one of his favorites books of 2020. In it the Canadian novelist “weaves several narratives together as it tells a story of financial corruption, greed and a massive Ponzi scheme,” according to CBC Books. Some of the plot unfolds in Mandel’s native Vancouver.

Like all Gaines Center events, Mandel’s appearance will be open to the public, but registration is required at “An Evening with Emily St. John Mandel.”?

A book signing will follow the discussion.

Ben Lovely, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics, looks through a zebrafish tank. Lovely is working with zebrafish to study fetal alcohol syndrome. (Photo provided)

LOUISVILLE — Over the next five years, University of Louisville researchers plan to expose about 1.5 million fish eggs to alcohol in hopes of better understanding fetal alcohol syndrome in humans.

Using a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, researchers will specifically study zebrafish as a model for better understanding human facial defects associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol. They started their work in May and will finish in 2029.?

Ben Lovely, the study’s lead researcher and an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the university, said zebrafish are “a really strong model for humans” because they share more than 80% of the same genes.?

“If you have a gene that’s associated with cancer in humans, you’re probably going to find it in fish, and it can lead to cancer in a fish,” Lovely explained.?

Because of this, he told the Lantern, he can study the effects of alcohol on humans via the fish, learning more than he would be able to in a human study. Fish are well equipped for such a study, he said — he can study developing embryos outside the mother.?

“Part of the issue with looking at placental mammals like humans, like mice, is maternal effects and embryonic effects,” he said. “So you have two different things going on here.”?

With his zebrafish, which are raised in a facility on-site and “get fed and mate” for a living, he can take eggs that adult fish laid and? study them in petri dishes — about 100 at a time to ensure they don’t die from over-density. Zebrafish are a freshwater member of the minnow family.?

During their time in the dish, researchers control how much alcohol is added to the solution in each dish, which also has water and nutrients.?

“The alcohol goes right into the fish, gets right across the eggshell and into the fish itself,” he explained. The alcohol dose isn’t enough to kill the fish, he said.?

These fish are also perfect for monitoring early development.?

“They develop pigments once they reach adult stages, but as embryos, they’re transparent,” Lovely said. “You can see right through them. So we can actually watch the cells live in a developing fish over time. You can’t really do that in a placental mammal, because you’d have to remove the embryo to get that to happen.”?

Decreasing stigma?

Babies who were exposed to alcohol while in utero — especially in the early weeks when a person may not know they are pregnant — can be born with? fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), which includes the incurable fetal alcohol syndrome.?

People born with this may have “abnormal facial features” like a smooth ridge between the nose and upper lip, a thin upper lip and small eyes, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Other symptoms can include learning problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and more.?

Both the alcohol consumption and the facial features he is specifically studying can lead to stigma, Lovely said.?

“The first thing we see as humans is the face. So facial birth defects are hugely stigmatizing,” he said. “To understand their origins, their prognosis, everything about them is going to be key in really helping identify these issues early, if we can, especially prenatally, that would be more ideal.”?

Alcohol, too, “has its own stigma,” he said.?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2019 that about 42% of pregnancies in the United States are unintended. The early weeks and months of pregnancy are a key time for the developments of FASD, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“So you combine those two: there are a lot of individuals who are drinking and do not know they’re pregnant,” Lovely said. “They don’t want to be accused of harming their child because they didn’t know, right? That’s the stigma. So it’s very difficult for him to do human studies. It’s very difficult to find patients — very few mothers want to admit to this.”?

But through his zebrafish study, he said, he hopes to move in the direction of genotyping a person to see their sensitivity to alcohol and look at the issue more from a gene perspective and less from a social perspective.?

“A lot of researchers now … say ‘prenatal exposure,’ we don’t say ‘the mother drank,’” he said. “We don’t say anything about the mother, to avoid stigmatizing the mother. So we try to couch it from ‘this has happened to the developing embryo,’ not ‘this was done to the developing embryo.’”?

The CDC said this year that about 1 in 20 school-aged children in the country could have FASDs.? Not every fetus that’s exposed to alcohol will develop FASD issues.?

Because of this, the University of Louisville says that “understanding what genes might increase that risk could lead to better therapeutics and help mothers make safer, more informed choices.”?

UK President Eli Capilouto, left, shakes hands with Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, ahead of an interim education committee meeting. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT — Five of Kentucky’s university presidents told state lawmakers that their campuses are focused on inclusivity for all students as an interim committee sought information about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education.

The discussion, which lasted a couple of hours, in front of the Interim Joint Committee on Education on Tuesday comes amid Republican hostility to DEI efforts and threats to eliminate them in higher education, both in Kentucky and across the nation.

Before the meeting, Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, shared on X, formerly Twitter, that he and other lawmakers, including Rep. Candy Massaroni, R-Bardstown, planned to file a bill during the 2025 legislative session that would eliminate a requirement for public universities and colleges to submit diversity plans to the Council on Postsecondary Education and remove penalties for not meeting CPE standards.?

“While Representative Jennifer Decker continues to lead the charge to fully end DEI initiatives in Kentucky’s post-secondary institutions, we aim to refocus colleges on education — not division or exclusionary practices,” Calloway said.?

Decker, R-Waddy, was the sponsor of the House’s answer to DEI in higher education last session. That bill would have eliminated DEI programs in higher education. Meanwhile, a Senate bill proposed a legal path for employees and students to sue universities on the grounds they were discriminated against for rejecting “divisive concepts.” Neither piece of legislation passed.?

Committee co-chairs, Republicans Sen. Stephen West and Rep. James Tipton, “felt it was appropriate to get all the information out on the table” regarding DEI at public universities heading into the next session, West said at the start of the meeting.?

Some of Kentucky’s public universities have already begun looking at their diversity policies in the interim. In recent weeks, the University of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky University announced they were closing their diversity offices. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System said last week it plans to review its programs and resources.?

Campuses represented Tuesday were UK, the University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and Murray State University. Presidents of NKU and Morehead State University previously addressed the education committee about DEI programs on those campuses. KCTCS President Ryan Quarles recently told the Kentucky Lantern he would make a similar presentation in November.?

UK President Eli Capilouto said he hears concerns about DEI in questions regarding how it represents everyone. He said the purpose of the meeting was to “to find a common approach to a common concern,” and that was “how we support everyone, regardless of where they are from, what they think, who they are.”?

While UK eliminated its diversity office, no jobs were eliminated, Capilouto said. He added that the university was recommitting itself to refrain from statements “that appear political or partisan” and protecting academic freedom.?

“??Spaces for learning must be free for the exchange of ideas, and discovery should take our scholars and students wherever their curiosity and questions lead, because that’s the only way we’re going to solve the thorniest of problems,” Capilouto said. “And we should welcome discomfort in hearing ideas. But we can’t tolerate indoctrination, intimidation or disrespect. The lectern serves learning, and is not a pulpit for proselytizing.”?

Kim Schatzel, who became president of UofL in early 2023, told lawmakers? her institution “will support all our students and all needs of all.” Last year, UofL changed the name of its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Institutional Equity.?

“‘Equity’ means no preference, no bias, no discrimination,” Schatzel said before she listed the various identities that make up UofL’s student body —?Black, brown, white, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, refugees, first generation students, gay, straight, disabled, veterans and more.?

Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, referenced pro-Palestine protests at UofL and on other campuses that she said made Jewish students feel unsafe based on religion. She said she appreciated Schatzel’s efforts “to make that right.”

“Our Constitution talks about equality,” Tichenor said. “I don’t love that word, equity. Because it assumes that there’s an overall that everybody can have or comes in, you know, it leaves the same way. That’s just impossible. We’re all different people. So I guess my question to you would be, why would you choose … the Office of Institutional Equity, as opposed to the Office of Institutional Equality, because that truly is more of our founding in the United States of America, that we’re all created equal.”

WKU President Timothy Caboni said the university defines diversity through a combination of identities, such as geographical background, age, socioeconomic status, political views, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and more. The university launched its OneWKU campaign in 2020, which is “cultivating a sense of belonging” for all who are on campus.?

David McFaddin, president of EKU, said his university does not have a diversity office but remains committed to welcoming all. Bob Jackson, Murray State’s president and a former state lawmaker, said universities have a responsibility to advance the future workforce and highlighted academic programs at the university.?

“I say all of these things because our workforce and economic development needs and issues are vitally important for all students all across Kentucky, no matter gender, race, income status or otherwise,” Jackson said. “And that’s who we are. I’m proud of who we are.”?

Record rainfall — at times more than 4 inches in an hour — in late July 2022 produced widespread flash floods in southeastern Kentucky, killing 45 people. Command Sergeant Major Tim Lewis of the Kentucky National Guard secures Candace Spencer, 24, while she holds her son Wyatt Spencer, 1, after being airlifted on July 30, 2022 from South Fork in Breathitt County. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Lauren Cagle wants to make something clear. Despite popular assumptions about Kentuckians’ priorities and politics, they do care about climate change.

Cagle, a University of Kentucky professor of writing, rhetoric and digital studies, told the Lantern despite narratives that “red states have a certain point of view on climate change,” the reality of what’s happening in communities across the state is much different.?

“There’s so much work happening around climate, and when we put all those people in a room together, that becomes visible in a way that’s undeniable,” Cagle said.?

An event at the University of Kentucky later this month will do that by bringing together Kentuckians from a wide range of fields including researchers, grassroots organizers and government employees and leaders to share insights and spark collaboration on dealing with the increasing threat of climate change.?

Speakers at the Kentucky Climate Symposium on Sept. 26 will include nonprofit housing developers in Eastern Kentucky, a representative from the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, and former Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House, who will be one of those giving opening remarks at the event.?

Cagle also leads the Kentucky Climate Consortium, a network of higher education researchers that organized the day-long event. She hopes sessions and speakers on disaster preparedness and public health can build a broader network of Kentuckians focused on climate change.?

“There are so many ways that we can partner with people that we don’t see eye to eye with on every issue and still make progress heading in a direction that we all like,” Cagle said. “That is an approach to climate solutions that we have seen be successful in other places, and it can be successful here in Kentucky.”?

Speakers come from a variety of backgrounds including:

• ?Michael Borchers, the hydrology and hydraulics section chief at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District.
• Scott McReynolds, the executive director of the Housing Development Alliance in Eastern Kentucky.
• Jerry Brotzge, the Kentucky state climatologist at Western Kentucky University.
• Misty Skaggs, a co-founder of EKY Mutual Aid, a network of volunteers providing financial assistance and other support to Eastern Kentuckians.?
• Steve Velasco III, the Kentucky state veterinarian
• Eboni Cochran, co-director of Rubbertown Emergency ACTion (REACT), a grassroots organization trying to protect Louisville residents from air pollution coming from Rubbertown, the name for a collection of industrial and chemical plants along the Ohio River.?

Cochran, the co-director of REACT, told the Lantern she wants to make sure the discussion goes beyond conversations about reducing greenhouse gas emissions to also look at climate change? through an environmental justice lens and how it directly impacts Kentucky.

In Louisville’s Rubbertown, she said, more storms, flooding and higher risks of tornadoes from climate change could expose residents to chemical leaks from nearby chemical and other industrial plants.

“How do chemical facilities fortify their facilities to make sure that when their power goes out, or if there’s flooding, that we don’t have adverse impacts in our neighborhoods where we either have to evacuate, or we just have to shelter in place or we just have to breathe it in — all of that,” Cochran said.?

Cochran said she’s looking forward to dialogue at the symposium between government leaders and grassroots organizers and hearing about each other’s work. How to fortify people living in impacted neighborhoods is a critical part of that conversation for her.?

Cagle believes finding common ground on solutions for climate change in Kentucky is possible, despite sometimes conflicting stances among the expected attendees. For example, she said nonprofit electric utility East Kentucky Power Cooperative is sending representatives to the symposium. The utility has welcomed major federal funding to add renewable energy while also fighting federal regulations seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions from its fossil fuel-fired power plants. An East Kentucky Power spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment asking about their attendance.?

The only baseline attendees should have in the room, Cagle said, is that “everyone agrees climate change is happening.”?

According to December 2023 estimates from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 62% of Kentuckians think global warming is happening, below the national average of 72%. Among Kentuckians, 48% think global warming is caused mostly by human activity, below the national average of 58%.?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body of the world’s leading climate scientists, in its latest synthesis report found human activities primarily from greenhouse gas emissions have “unequivocally” caused global warming with impacts to ecosystems on land and water, increases in extreme heat events and sea level rises likely attributed to climate change.?

“Obviously, we’re going to have disagreements. That’s healthy,” Cagle said. “We need to create spaces where we can have those conversations and where we can get out of the trap of just constantly talking about, ‘is it happening or not.’”?

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is made up of 16 colleges across Kentucky. Its headquarters, above, is in Versailles. (KCTCS photo)

Under scrutiny from Republican lawmakers pushing to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in higher education, Kentucky’s two-year college system on Friday announced it is launching an internal review.?

The goal is “to make sure that our offices and titles correctly reflect our mission of student success for all students,” said Ryan Quarles, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS).

In an interview with the Kentucky Lantern, Quarles, a former state lawmaker and two-term agriculture commissioner who became the system’s president this year, emphasized the diverse student population served by KCTCS which touts itself as “the most diverse institution in the state.”

“As KCTCS president, I want to assure our lawmakers and taxpayers and policymakers that we have an environment at our community colleges that is open to anyone and we welcome Kentuckians of all backgrounds and that when we offer support and services and programs that they’re open for every single student,” Quarles told the Lantern.

The review comes as two Kentucky public universities — the University of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky University — have closed their diversity offices amid pressure from Republican lawmakers. Two bills targeting DEI in higher education failed to pass the GOP-controlled General Assembly earlier this year, but the anti-DEI efforts are expected to be renewed when the legislature convenes in January.?

In an announcement released Friday afternoon, KCTCS said its review will begin in coming weeks with the goal of ensuring “all programs, offices and goals align with our commitment to success for all students.”?

KCTCS has 16 colleges across the state and serves more than 100,000 students. According to its website, the system has Diversity Peer Team contacts at individual campuses.?

Quarles said KCTCS delivers education not only on its campuses but also in prisons and addiction recovery centers. He added that more than half of GEDs awarded in Kentucky are awarded through KCTCS.? “When we talk about diversity, sometimes people tend to focus on race, but at KCTCS, we truly are an open access college for all Kentuckians,” he said.

When asked if he thought it was appropriate for the General Assembly to take action on DEI in higher education, Quarles said he would defer to current lawmakers on that.?

Ryan Quarles named president of Kentucky Community and Technical College System

Next week, the Interim Joint Committee on Education will hear from five university presidents on DEI programs within their institutions. Morehead State University and Northern Kentucky University have already made their presentations. Quarles said he is scheduled for a November presentation.?

Quarles said a goal of the review is to ensure consistency across KCTCS and to provide a better awareness of resources available to all students.?

“That means that all of our programs are inclusive, meaning that no programs exclude people,” Quarles said. “And we also want to make sure that our faculty and staff, who work really hard every day to get students across the finish line, that their titles and offices reflect the fact that they support all students.”

“The students that we serve at our community colleges sometimes need a little extra help, including wraparound services such as mental health support, child care, etc.,” Quarles said. “This is going to give us an opportunity to perhaps uncover some best practices to help all students achieve their college dream.”?

If voters approve Amendment 2 to Kentucky's Constitution the state for the first time would be allowed to send public money to private schools. Donors on both sides of the issue recently filed campaign finance reports. (Getty Images)

FRANKFORT — The big money being donated to defeat the so-called “school choice” amendment on the November ballot has come from – as expected – teachers unions, while the big money contributed by proponents of Amendment 2 has come from developers and other business interests in Northern Kentucky.

Reports filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance on Tuesday show that the group opposing the amendment, called Protect Our Schools, appears to have an early fundraising edge. It reported raising $3,055,000 since the spring and has $2,880,000 of that on hand as of Sept. 11.

Meanwhile, the committee advocating for the amendment, called Kentucky Students First, reported raising $1,533,000 so far, and a current balance of $1,118,000.

However, there are other groups that will spend money to influence voters in this race that have yet to report their donations and expenses. The most significant of those is likely to be Protect Freedom, which began airing advertisements advocating for the amendment in Kentucky this week.?

Protect Freedom is a national political action committee that discloses its finances to the Federal Election Commission and is due to file its next report later this month. The super PAC is affiliated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and has been nearly totally funded by Jeff Yass, the multi-billionaire options trader from Philadelphia. Yass is a powerful advocate for school choice and among the very largest political donors in the country. Since the beginning of 2023 he donated $14 million to Protect Freedom. And he donated millions to Protect Freedom and other super PACs that supported Republican Daniel Cameron’s unsuccessful campaign for governor of Kentucky in 2023.

Passage of Amendment 2? would allow the Kentucky General Assembly to approve provide state taxpayer funds to private and charter schools.

State lawmakers tried to do that three years ago with a bill that would have provided tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition.

But the Kentucky Supreme Court struck down that law, saying it violated provisions of the Kentucky Constitution.

Early this year Republican majorities in the Kentucky General Assembly approved a measure to let voters decide this November to amend the Constitution so that the General Assembly can provide funding for education outside the public school system.

Biggest donors

In its report filed Tuesday with the state election registry, the pro-amendment group Kentucky Students First reported getting most of its money from donors from Northern Kentucky with ties to the development and hospitality industries. Its biggest donors:

• William Yung, of Naples Florida, president of the hotel and resort operator Columbia Sussex, which is based in Crescent Springs, $500,000.
• Kentucky Education Freedom Fund Inc., a “dark money” political committee based in Louisville and headed by Charles Leis, the chief executive of EdChoice Kentucky, of Louisville. This type of political committee organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Service does not have to disclose its donors.
• Anthony Zembrodt, of Covington, retired, $200,000
• Matth Toebben, Crescent Springs, executive of Toebben Companies which is involved in commercial and residential construction, $100,000.
• The Drees Company, Fort Mitchell, homebuilding, $75,000.
• American Federation for Children, of Columbia, Maryland, a national organization that promotes school choice, $75,000.

Protect Our Schools, the group opposed to the amendment, reported the following large donations:

• National Education Association, Washington, a national teachers union, $2,415,000
• Kentucky Education Association, Frankfort, a state teachers union, $250,000
• Jefferson County Teachers Association, Louisville, the Jefferson county teachers union, $250,000
• Movement Voter Project, Northampton, Massachusetts, $60,000
• Council for Better Education, Frankfort, $50,000

Measles is highly contagious. (Getty Images)

A Western Kentucky University student has a confirmed case of measles and may have exposed others, according to the Barren River Health District and the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

The student is unvaccinated against the highly contagious disease, the health departments said.?

The student, whose name, gender and other identifying information were not released, recently traveled internationally. This is where they “are presumed to have been exposed to measles.”?

Upon returning, and “while infectious with measles,” the student attended public events on Aug. 28, 29 and 30, the health department said.?

People who were at the following locations may have been exposed:?

• The Commons at Helm Library (WKU)
  • 1906 College Heights Blvd #11067 in Bowling Green?
  • Wednesday Aug. 28, 2024, (7:45 a.m. – 10? am and 8 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.)
  • Thursday Aug. 29, 2024, (7:45 a.m. – 10 a.m.)
  • Friday Aug. 30, 2024, (7:45 a.m. – 10 a.m.)
• WKU student union Starbucks
  • 1906 College Heights Blvd in Bowling Green
  • Wednesday Aug. 28, 2024, 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
• Simply Ramen restaurant trivia night
  • 801 Campbell Lane in Bowling Green?
  • Thursday Aug.? 29, 2024, (7 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.)

Measles “spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes,” according to the World Health Organization. It can cause serious complications and death, according to WHO, which reported most deaths from measles in 2022 were in unvaccinated children.?

Vaccination is the best defense against measles, WHO says.?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a first dose of MMR vaccine for children 12–15 months and a second dose between ages 4–6. Teens and adults should also stay up-to-date on this vaccine, the CDC says, which is generally available at pharmacies.?

Symptoms of measles are fever, cough, watery eyes, runny nose and rash.

If you have questions about exposure or your risk, call your healthcare provider or the Barren River District Health Department at 833-551-0953.

The Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force heard from a couple dozen community members at Louisville Male High School. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LOUISVILLE — More Louisville residents expressed skepticism about a legislative task force’s intentions amid fears of dismantling Jefferson County Public Schools Tuesday evening.?

While addressing the Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force, students, teachers, parents and more called for different solutions, like allocating more adequate funding for public schools, giving students incentives to become educators themselves and creating better access to school resources, like transportation.?

Melissa Nelson, manager of education for Metro United Way, said that residents repeatedly said they opposed breaking up the school district out of skepticism. She referred to another speaker’s comments about taking the committee at its word that it wants to help the school district and added “I really hope that’s true.”?

Nelson pointed out some positives she sees in JCPS, such as mental health resources and cultural groups to give students a sense of belonging within their schools.?

“My biggest drawback with JCPS is they don’t work well with others, and I think that is because they are constantly under threat,” she said.?

The task force, which includes government and citizen members, met at Louisville Male High School on Tuesday. About a couple dozen speakers addressed the group within an hour. It was the second of two meetings held to get community feedback in Louisville area schools. The task force typically meets in Frankfort at the Capitol Annex.?

During the last meeting, co-chairs of the task force said deciding to split the district, which serves almost 97,000 students, was not under its purview. Some Republicans have said in the past that “the district is too big to properly manage.”?

One task force member, Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville, told reporters after the meeting that while he did hear skepticism about the panel, he also heard several speakers invite the task force to help JCPS. Neal also said that whatever decision is made in the future about the school district won’t be at the hands of the committee, but the entire General Assembly, which is mostly made up of lawmakers who do not have a connection to Louisville and JCPS.?

“I’m hopeful that the legislature will come together and do the right thing,” Neal said.?

Co-chair Sen. Michael Names, R-Shepherdsville, told reporters that he did hear some new points to consider during the meeting, such as making changes around disciplining students with behavioral issues. Nemes said he wished the task force could have more community meetings to hear more feedback as much was focused on the question of splitting up the district.? “I want to hear: What we can do to help, what the Jefferson County Public Schools need, what do the students need, what can be done better? That’s what we want,” Nemes said. “What can we do better? What can we help them with?”

The task force, which was created by a House resolution, must make any recommendations by Dec. 1 in a report to the Legislative Research Commission. The resolution also directs the task force to only review the governance of Kentucky school districts with more than 75,000 students. JCPS is the only district that meets that criteria.

The group’s next meeting will be in Frankfort on Monday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m.?

Spalding University in Louisville. (Spalding University photo)

Spalding University, a private, liberal arts college in Louisville, has named Anne Kenworthy as its 11th president, the institution announced Monday.??

Kenworthy, who comes from the Catholic Christian Brothers University in Memphis, will take over the role on Jan. 1.?

She also worked at Crichton College and the University of Memphis, according to Spalding, which was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.?

“Dr. Kenworthy’s exemplary leadership and dedication to mission-driven education make her an ideal fit for Spalding University,” Kellie Sheryak, Spalding University Board of Trustees Chair, said in a statement. “Her commitment to service, both in education and the broader community, aligns with the legacy of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. We are excited to see how her vision will advance our educational excellence mission and promote peace and justice.”??

Kenworthy was chosen unanimously by the Board of Trustees, according to Spalding. Her predecessor, Tori Murden McClure, retired at the end of June after a 14-year tenure.?

“I am excited and humbled to be starting the new year as a member of the Spalding University community,” Kenworthy said in a statement. “I have been impressed with Spalding’s reputation for meeting the needs of the times, and I am committed to expanding Spalding’s reach and impact in the region.”?

William T. Young Library at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. (Mark Cornelison | UK Photo)

Professors in the South are increasingly worried about political interference in higher education, according to a new survey released by southern chapters of the American Association of University Professors.?

The survey, which included responses from nearly 3,000 faculty members, found that about 70% of respondents signaled dissatisfaction with the political atmosphere around higher education and rated it “poor or very poor.” Additionally, about 55% of survey respondents said they were disappointed in their school’s administration for “not adequately defending academic freedom and tenure.”?

According to a news release, 109 respondents were from Kentucky. AAUP chapters that participated in the survey included Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.?

The survey results come on the heels of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives coming drawing fire from Republicans in Kentucky and across the nation. In recent weeks, the University of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky University announced plans to close their diversity offices amid pressure from Republican lawmakers.?

Two anti-DEI bills were debated by Kentucky lawmakers in the 2024 session but died without being approved. However, one policy change did pass as part of a postsecondary funding bill. It changed the formula for performance-based funding of universities by prohibiting the use of “any race-based metrics or targets.”?

Another GOP-backed measure in Kentucky that would have allowed universities to remove faculty for not meeting certain “productivity requirements” did not come out of the House Education Committee last session. Some critics saw it as a path to end tenure in Kentucky.?

Among its overall survey results, the AAUP chapters found that 60% of respondents would not recommend their state “as a desirable place to work for colleagues.” About 28% of respondents had reported they applied for academic jobs in another state since 2022, and another 28% are planning to do so in the coming year. Of those who had applied to another state, the top five destinations were California, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Illinois.

More than 27% of respondents reported that they do not plan to stay in academia longterm.?

Respondents could list multiple reasons why they were seeking employment elsewhere. The top issue was salary at 56.5%, followed by the state’s political climate at 53.3% and academic freedom at 49.6%. DEI and shared governance issues were mentioned by about 30% of respondents.?

Over the summer, the UK Board of Trustees gave its final approval to a new shared governance model that stripped faculty of power over academic decisions by dismantling the University Senate and instating a weaker faculty senate.?

The survey was conducted during state AAUP conferences Aug. 12-30 through social media and email. About 17% of the respondents said they were non-white and 51% were female. More than 60% said they had a tenured position.?

Northern Kentucky University no longer has a diversity office, its president has announced. (NKU photo)

A second Kentucky public university has disbanded its diversity office under pressure from Republican lawmakers.

Northern Kentucky University President Cady Short-Thompson wrote in an email to campus: “The circumstances under which universities across the Commonwealth and the country find themselves, coupled with the legislative priorities of state leaders for the upcoming session, require universities to change.”?

Short-Thompson announced in the Thursday email that she was dissolving the Office of Inclusive Excellence after Chief Diversity Officer Darryl Peal stepped down from his role. Short-Thompson also announced interim employees who will oversee Title IX regulations and investigations at NKU.?

On Aug. 20, the University of Kentucky announced it was disbanding its Office for Institutional Diversity and would establish a new Office for Community Relations.?

UK President Eli Capilouto also cited political concerns in his email to the campus. While university members “share the value that out of many people, we are one community,” Capilouto wrote, “the university has also “listened to policymakers and heard many of their questions about whether we appear partisan or political on the issues of our day.”?

Republican lawmakers target diversity in higher ed

The closings come on the heels of legislative scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives in higher education both in Kentucky and across the country. Republicans pushed anti-DEI bills during Kentucky’s 2024 session, although none were enacted.

One policy change did make it through the session. The Republican-controlled legislature changed the formula for performance-based funding of higher education to prohibit the use of “any race-based metrics or targets.”?

Criticism of diversity programs has continued during the legislative interim as Republican lawmakers have challenged university officials. During an Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting in July, Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville, asked Short-Thompson how her son, who will soon go to college, could feel welcomed at an institution like NKU when there are no organizations specifically for white students. Other public universities are expected to give presentations on DEI during the committee’s September meeting.?

University of Louisville spokesperson John Karman told the Lantern Thursday that there “are no plans to eliminate the UofL Office of Institutional Equity.” According to the office’s website, it “oversees initiatives aimed at fostering inclusive excellence” at UofL and offers resources and training to the campus and community.

“The office serves all UofL students as they progress and complete their degrees,” Karman said. “The success of all our students is UofL’s highest priority.”?

Revisiting, reviewing

Other higher education officials in Kentucky told the Lantern that they are revisiting their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) resources and reviewing how to best meet the needs of all students.

Aaron Thompson, the president of the Council on Postsecondary Education said in a Thursday afternoon interview with the Kentucky Lantern that CPE and public universities have had discussions about how to ensure they are serving all students and that he hopes to continue the conversations in the next legislative session.?

“My goal is to try to show people exactly the power we have by inclusion and having people feeling like they belong on a campus, no matter what their backgrounds are,” he said.?

?CPE oversees Kentucky’s public universities and community colleges.

“My goal is to try to show people exactly the power we have by inclusion and having people feeling like they belong on a campus, no matter what their backgrounds are,” he said.?

Thompson added that CPE specifically is reviewing “what it means for us to make sure that we’re pushing policy and design that will serve all of our students.” That will look like “ an access and success mission,” he said. CPE is asking itself guiding questions like: “Are we getting students from our population groups that are needing to get into college to get a degree that will become part of our economic development system?”?

If not, Thompson said, then “we need to make sure we work on getting those students.”?

“It’s our goal — the campuses’ and my goal — to continue to work in ways that we serve students, and we invite all students to come to us,” Thompson said. “We would always want any student to feel like they’re welcome in our doors and that they, in fact, are going to come to us and get the kind of degree or credential that they need when they leave our doors to have a well paying job, and hopefully they all stay in Kentucky.”

Western Kentucky University “is committed to a safe and welcoming campus with top-ranked faculty and staff, ethical and transparent policies and a thriving, diverse student body prepared for success as global citizens,” spokesperson Jace Lux said in a statement.?

“Our focus is not on programs, initiatives or activities but rather about fostering a sense of belonging so that every individual who comes to our campus to study, teach, live, compete or visit finds their place and recognizes that they are an integral part of our community,” Lux continued. “As always, we will monitor all legislation that could affect higher education throughout the upcoming legislative session.”

Murray State University said in a statement that its Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Access “is focused on equal opportunity including Title IX and operates in a compliance function for complaints, investigations and training regarding illegal discrimination and illegal harassment consistent with the University’s non discrimination statement,” per state and federal laws.?

“This office has a responsibility for remaining impartial and therefore holds no advocacy role,” MSU said.

Ava Williams, a junior at Central High School in Louisville, addresses the Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LOUISVILLE — Several speakers, including Jefferson County Public Schools students, warned a legislative task force against breaking up Kentucky’s largest school district in a Tuesday evening meeting.?

However, the co-chairs of the Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force said deciding to split the district, which serves almost 97,000 students, was not under its purview. Some Republicans in the legislature have called for studying whether the district is too big to be successfully managed.

The task force met at Central High School Tuesday evening. It was the first of two meetings the group will hold at a public school in Louisville. It typically meets in Frankfort at the Capitol Annex.?

“I fear that splitting up the district could jeopardize the unique experiences and support that Central provides their students,” said Ava Williams, a junior at Central High School. “Smaller districts may be faced with resource constraints that could limit access to specialized magnet programs, especially for students in disadvantaged areas like Central High School.”?

Williams told the committee that the magnet teaching and learning program she is in has provided her opportunities that she did not think she could have in another school district, such as touring Kentucky State University, an internship available only to students in her magnet program and sitting in on classes at the University of Louisville. Williams also spoke of support she’s had from her connections to teachers at Central.

Other speakers — including JCPS students, employees, parents and representatives of community groups, such as the local NAACP chapter and the Louisville Urban League — also warned against possible ramifications of dividing JCPS into smaller school districts. They instead argued for lawmakers to strengthen education resources through increased funding, citing the need for adequately supporting transportation and teacher pay.

The meeting lasted around 90 minutes and had more than two dozen speakers.

Would dividing JCPS sacrifice diversity? Republican lawmaker, school board member disagree

After a handful of community members addressed the task force, Co-chair Rep. Kim Banta, R-Ft.Mitchell said Co-chair Sen. Michael Names, R-Shepherdsville, asked her to reiterate that the task force would not determine splitting up the district.?

“He wanted me to say that we’re not talking about splitting up the district,” Banta said to jeers from the crowd.?

According to the House resolution that created the task force, the group must make any recommendations by Dec. 1 in a report to the Legislative Research Commission. The resolution also directs the task force to only review the governance of Kentucky school districts with more than 75,000 students. JCPS is the only district that meets that criteria.

Nemes told reporters after the meeting that he suspected no legislation could come from the task force next legislative session because of the amount of information the task force wants to review. While some of the lawmakers backing the initial House resolution may have wanted to see the district split, Nemes said that’s not the task force’s intention.?

“Out of this task force, we’re going to have recommendations, possibly, but mostly a good report,” Nemes said. “And yes, we may ask for more time to do things. Whether there be legislation or not … there may be some minor things, but we’re going to work with Jefferson County Public Schools on what can be done and what should be done.”?

Questions from the task force

Those signing up for public comment were prompted to answer two questions: “How would you like to see the district’s academic offerings, educational capabilities and operations improved?” and “How have these factors affected the enrollment decisions for your child?”?

Terrance Sullivan, the vice chair of the JCPS Advisory Council for Racial Equity, said told the task force that the questions “presupposed the fault on the district and don’t add any space or culpability of the legislature.”?

Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfiled, told reporters after the meeting that she felt like speakers did answer the questions the task force posed, particularly about different programs and opportunities the district offers students. She added that she hoped the task force hears more community perspectives at its next meeting.?

In response to the issue of funding that some speakers brought up, Tichenor said the General Assembly approved additional funding for school transportation in its most recent two-year state budget.?

“I think the idea of ‘fully-funded’ never has an end,” Tichenor said. “It’s always a moving target, so when that gets brought up from the public, we never really have an answer of what ‘fully funding’ means.”?

Nemes added that teacher pensions are “now pretty much solvent” because of money the legislature has added to recent state budgets, as was reported at a Tuesday meeting of the Pension Oversight Board.

Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville, told reporters that “there’s no way to tell” if the task force has been effective in reviewing JCPS governance so far through the interim session. He also said that lawmakers behind the resolution had initially pushed for breaking up the school district.?

“The main message is we’re stronger together,” he said. “We’re stronger in uplifting all people.”

The pool at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

Former University of Kentucky swimming coach Lars Jorgensen has formally denied allegations of sexual abuse contained in a lawsuit brought by two former UK swimmers and assistant coaches.

Nineteen weeks after a lawsuit was filed in federal court accusing Jorgensen of repeated rapes of Bridgette Alexander, a female swimmer who has since transitioned as Briggs Alexander, and of sexually abusing a second plaintiff known as Jane Doe, Jorgensen denied all of their allegations and asked U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell to dismiss the case in a Friday afternoon court filing.

“The conduct of this defendant was not the proximate cause or a substantial factor in causing any of the injuries or damage, if any occurred, alleged by the plaintiff,” Jorgensen’s response said.

The 20-page response from Lexington attorney Anthony Pernice did not provide an alternative version of the events described by Alexander and Jane Doe in their lawsuit. Previously, another attorney representing Jorgensen had characterized the relationships as consensual, a claim vigorously disputed by the plaintiffs.?

The University of Kentucky, UK Athletics Ddirector Mitch Barnhart and former UK swimming coach Gary Conelly are also defendants in the case, accused of negligence in their response to complaints about Jorgensen’s conduct that date to his 2012 hiring as Conelly’s assistant and heir apparent.?

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Megan Bonanni, said Jorgensen’s response “does not confront the fundamental concerns raised in our April lawsuit. This maneuver seems designed to evade responsibility rather than address the serious allegations. Our commitment to securing justice for the courageous individuals who have bravely shared their experiences of abuse and a toxic environment at the University of Kentucky remains resolute.”?

The university has sought to eliminate four of the six counts in which it is a named defendant, claiming sovereign immunity as a state institution and arguing it cannot be held liable for Jorgensen’s alleged conduct because it was not within the scope of his employment.??

Jorgensen’s response was initially due on July 26, but that deadline passed without a filing or an application for an extension.

On Aug. 9, the Liberty Mutual insurance company sought a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Jorgensen against the lawsuit. Jorgensen’s homeowners policies contained a personal liability limit of $500,000 per “occurrence,” a term the company defines as an “accident.” According to the company’s filing, Jorgensen’s policies included an exclusion for “expected or intended injury” and do not cover “an insured’s intentional or criminal acts.”

Kentucky State University. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Kentucky’s Department of Public Health will now offer an internship program to Kentucky State University students who wish to get hands-on experience in the field while studying.?

Employees of the Department of Public Health (KDPH) will also get tuition assistance for continuing their education at Kentucky State University (KSU). Such employees can take five or fewer courses per academic year for free.?

KSU becomes the 10th postsecondary institution in the state to benefit from such a? partnership with KDPH, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced Thursday. The other institutions are Bellarmine University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, University of Pikeville, Simmons College of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University.

KSU president Koffi Akakpo said in a statement the new partnership, which is effective immediately, will “benefit our students, the future of the public health workforce and the citizens of Kentucky.”?

KDPH says it’s hired nine full-time employees as a result of its Student Internship Program, which created 40 internships and hosted 107 students.?

“Public Health supports an easier path to a healthier life for all Kentuckians,” Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said in a statement. “Those interested in entering the field can choose from a full spectrum of services, from newborn screenings and nutrition education to administering vaccines, medication programs and so much more. The professional development opportunities, provided through our programs, will help students find their niche in improving health outcomes for large populations.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2022 that the COVID-19 pandemic “strained many essential frontline professionals, including public health workers.”?

From March 2020 to January 2022, the CDC said, most public health workers had a COVID-19 component to their job. At the time, the CDC said, “40% of the workforce intends to leave their jobs within the next 5 years.”?

A 2023 study published in the health policy journal Health Affairs examined those public health workforce trends before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.?

Researchers said then there is “critical urgency needed to address the shrinking state and local governmental public health workforce that has the potential to jeopardize the safety, security, and economic prosperity of the U.S.”?

That study concluded: “Given the likelihood of increasing outbreaks and future global pandemics, recruitment and retention must be prioritized, especially for younger staff, who represent the future of the public health workforce.”?

Superintendent Demetrius Liggins included this rendering in his presentation to a legislative committee in Frankfort, Aug. 20, 2024.

Republican state lawmakers grilled the Fayette County Public Schools superintendent Tuesday over the design of restrooms in a new middle school, suggesting the district is trying to circumvent the anti-transgender law enacted by the GOP-controlled legislature last year.?

However, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins told the Interim Joint Committee on Education that restrooms in the new Mary E. Britton Middle School were designed to increase student safety by preventing bullying and other bad behavior in restrooms — a problem that data shows has increased statewide. Liggins said the design decisions had nothing to do with the controversial Senate Bill 150, which also limited medical care for transgender minors.

“This has nothing to do with Senate Bill 150, but we can see from the data that when students are supervised, behavior incidents go down,” Liggins said in response to a question from Rep. Candy Massaroni, R-Bardstown. “That’s just common knowledge.”

Massaroni had asked if the design was “a way just to get around” the 2023 legislation that, among other provisions, bans people from using bathrooms, locker rooms or showers that “are reserved for students of a different biological sex” in schools.?

The committee’s discussion, which lasted nearly an hour, signaled a renewal of Republican lawmakers’ conversations about preventing transgender students in Kentucky schools from using bathrooms of the gender they identify with.

Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, criticized what he called a gender-neutral restroom design in a presentation to the committee and called it an attempt to bypass requirements of the 2023 law.

The design features private stalls with floor-to-ceiling doors and an open communal sink area that can be observed and supervised from the hallway.?

Liggins told lawmakers that the school’s principal has decided to segregate boys and girls into separate restroom areas. He said the new configuration will enable adults to better supervise “restrooms in general.”?

The superintendent said the district’s advisory council on safety saw a need to address supervision of students in hallways and restrooms. Parents and other stakeholders also had a chance to participate in the design process, he said, without raising concerns about the restrooms design.

Liggins highlighted issues the school district faced from a 2021 TikTok trend inspiring damage and theft, mostly in boys’ bathrooms. He added that vandalism cost the district more than $42,000 in repairs. More recently, the school district and others across the nation are trying to prevent students from vaping or using electronic cigarettes in restrooms, Liggins added.?

According to the Kentucky 2022-23 School Safety Report, schools have seen an increase in behavior events reported in bathrooms, with more than 15,000 that school year. In the 2018-19 school year, 4,980 behavior events in bathrooms were reported.?

Henry Clay High School, which is part of Fayette County Public Schools, recently announced it would close restrooms during transitions between classes unless there is a medical need.?

Lockett, whose district includes part of southern Fayette County, called on his fellow legislators to back a bill he had drafted that would require all Kentucky public schools with more than 100 students to have at least 90% of their restrooms designated for one gender — allowing the remaining 10% to be “all access restrooms.” He added that he welcomes input from others on his proposal. The General Assembly can take action on legislation when it reconvenes in January.?

“We expect our schools to be safe, learning environments, not social experiments,” Lockett said. “We expect that our students shouldn’t be afraid or embarrassed, bullied or harassed in school. And at the end of the day, we want our public schools, including Fayette County, to be the best that they can be.”

Lockett referred to renderings of a “gender-neutral open-concept” restroom in Britton Middle School, which will open on Polo Club Boulevard near Hamburg in 2025.?

But Lockett’s “gender-neutral” description is incorrect, a school district spokesperson told the Lexington Herald-Leader after the meeting. “There are individual stalls in pods with sinks outside and signage will designate if the pod is for girls or boys,” FCPS spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith told the newspaper.

Davidson-Smith also told the Kentucky Lantern that Lockett’s district does not include the new middle school, so none of his constituents would be impacted by the design and thus were not contacted to give input to the school district.

Eunice Montfort, of Frankfort, addressed the committee as a concerned citizen. She said she has ?worked as a health care administrator and in the construction industry and “did encounter individuals who were transgendered” in both careers. She said she opposed “co-ed bathrooms” and thought they were “a terrible idea.”?

In his remarks to the committee, Lockett presented a hypothetical situation where a sixth-grade girl tells her parents that she’s uncomfortable sharing a gender-neutral bathroom with male classmates and faces embarrassment.?

“She uses the restroom, possibly anyway, and enters a stall that a boy just came out of,” Lockett said. “There is urine all over the seat and floor of the stall — because we know how middle school boys are — and so this allows her experience to be even worse.”

Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, said that as an elementary school teacher, her perspective was “completely different than the perspective that Rep. Lockett brings.” She said when a fifth-grade class goes to the restroom, a teacher stands in the hall as kids line up to enter when a stall opens, but the students aren’t supervised in the closed-off restroom.?

Bojanowski said she recently passed a class going to the bathroom at her school and a student told the teacher another child had punched them in the restroom, but “what can the teacher say? She is not in the room.”

“As an educator, I would applaud this design,” she said. “You can have a teacher or an adult standing, watching, sending the kids into the area one at a time to use the restroom in the enclosed stalls, and then they wash their hands and they come out, and you have … eyes on them every minute, except for when they understandably have their own privacy.”?

A few lawmakers did ask some questions of presenters during the meeting, but Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, asked committee Chairman Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, “why we needed to cut off questioning and rush the meeting” before going to the next item on the agenda.

“Because we have two more items on the agenda, plus about 12 or 13 administrative regulations to get through today,” Tipton said.?

“I’m happy to stay. Anybody else?” Raymond said in reply. “Everybody happy to stay a little bit longer?”?

Tipton said to Raymond he didn’t know “how long you’ve been in the General Assembly” and added that “you should know by now that we have time restraints on how long we can keep the room,” referring to the meeting room in the Capitol annex.?

Raymond offered that she’s been a member of the legislature for six years. She then asked what event would be in the room next and when it started.?

“Rep. Raymond, I’m just following the rules given to us by the LRC (Legislative Research Commission),” Tipton said. “And you’ve just caused us a delay.”?

Raymond previously announced that she is not seeking reelection to the General Assembly to instead run for a seat on Louisville Metro Council.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional comments Wednesday morning.?

UK President Eli Capilouto (Photo by Mark Cornelison | UK Photo)

The University of Kentucky is disbanding its Office for Institutional Diversity effective immediately, President Eli Capilouto announced Tuesday.?

No one will lose their job, Capilouto said in a Tuesday afternoon email sent to staff. Other offices will absorb people and services. That includes a new office called the Office for Community Relations.?

“We share the value that out of many people, we are one community,” Capilouto wrote. “But we’ve also listened to policymakers and heard many of their questions about whether we appear partisan or political on the issues of our day.”?

The office’s goal, according to its website, was to “enhance the diversity and inclusivity of our university community through the recruitment and retention of an increasingly diverse population of faculty, administrators, staff and students, and by implementing initiatives that provide rich diversity-related experiences for all to help ensure their success in an interconnected world.”?

This comes after diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at public universities came under scrutiny during Kentucky’s 2024 legislative session — and nationally.?

Though Kentucky lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have ended DEI programs and offices at public universities and colleges, the discussion will continue during the interim.?

The email from Capilouto says the university will also “not mandate diversity training” and will remove diversity statements from in hiring documents.?

He also pointed to the national DEI discussion, writing that “universities across the country are grappling with the same questions that we are asking and being asked around diversity, equity and inclusion.”?

“Kentucky legislators have made clear to me in our conversations that they are exploring these issues again as they prepare for the 2025 legislative session,” Capilouto wrote. “If we are to be a campus for everyone, we must demonstrate to ourselves and to those who support and invest in us our commitment to the idea that everyone belongs — both in what we say and in what we do.”?

Republican praise?

Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy,? who sponsored unsuccessful legislation to defund DEI offices this year, praised UK for the decision.?

“I appreciate the University of Kentucky for taking this step and remain hopeful that other institutions, as well as the Council on Postsecondary Education, will follow their lead and recognize that this failed experiment has done nothing to make postsecondary education more accessible,” she said in a statement.?

“Our efforts have always been aimed at eliminating unconstitutional, unnecessary, costly and duplicative bureaucracy while still making sure campuses are open and welcoming to a diversity of students and staff,” Decker said.?

Senate Republican Whip Mike Wilson, who sponsored another bill aimed at limiting DEI, called this disbandment a “positive step in the right direction” and said “I would encourage other institutions to follow UK’s initiative. I trust this development, and the university’s efforts are sincere.”?

“We will get a chance to hear from the university and find out more details on what they are doing at our next Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting in September, when the topic of DEI will be on the agenda,” Wilson said. “A true elimination of these DEI policies in our public universities will end the division they promote, allowing our colleges and universities to be the true bastion of free thought we need them to be.”

‘A change without a difference’

Sen. Reggie Thomas, the minority caucus chair who represents Lexington and the University of Kentucky, told the Lantern he was “disappointed to hear” of the move, but doesn’t believe it means UK has abandoned a commitment to inclusion.

“I feel confident that UK is going to still continue to be very active in recruiting Black students, to make sure that that there are groups that will encourage cultural affinity amongst themselves,” he said. “I think that’s a change without a difference.”

Essentially, Thomas said: “there’s more to supporting cultural diversity in any institution other than a name.”

And, given that the DEI conversation “is going to rear its ugly head again in 2025,” he said, “President Capilouto and the UK administration is being proactive in terms of saying ‘look, we’re going to disband our office, but not disband the notion.'”

Gov. Andy Beshear says the media spotlight on him when he was considered a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has the potential to make a difference for Kentucky if Harris is elected. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said he’s keeping his focus on Kentucky for the remainder of his second term following speculation that he could join Vice President Kamala Harris’ ticket. And while he stresses that the spotlight was good for the Commonwealth, some political observers say it was also good for the governor and that his time in national politics likely isn’t over.

Beshear is term-limited in his current office and if he wants to stay in politics, he must look upward.?

In a recent interview with the Kentucky Lantern at the Capitol, the 46-year-old governor said he’s “not going anywhere” at the moment when he was asked about his future role in national Democratic politics, such as a cabinet position in a Harris administration should she defeat former Republican President Donald Trump this November.?

“I love this job,” Beshear continued, “and even throughout this process, I remember touring Eastern Kentucky for the two-year anniversary of the flood, and looking around, knowing in my heart that this is where I’m supposed to be, that Kentucky is a part of my DNA, and my resolve to get the job done and rebuilding in Eastern Kentucky and in Western Kentucky.”?

While Beshear was on Harris’ shortlist for potential running mates, she ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.?

Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said he wouldn’t “read too much” into signals Beshear may send through state media outlets right now about his prospects in a possible Harris administration. Through the running mate speculation, he had direct contact with her campaign and was auditioning to become her running mate through press coverage at the time.?

“He did in his answer stick to the focus on Kentucky theme,” Voss said. “That’s really not that different from what he was saying initially when asked about his openness to the vice presidency.”?

Voss likened “Beshear’s current disavowal of national ambitions” to answers he gave during Harris’ running mate selection process. When asked if he would like to join Harris’ ticket in a late July MSNBC interview, Beshear said the “only way I would consider something other than this current job is if I believed I could further help my people and to help this country.”?

As a relatively young politician, Democratic strategist Will Carle said “the sky is the limit” for Beshear’s future career. Carle predicted Beshear could be considered for a cabinet position within a possible Harris administration but added that Beshear could be a viable candidate for a U.S. Senate seat.?

“He’ll be part of the next generation of leaders for the national party no matter what he does — even if he doesn’t go right back into electoral politics or a cabinet position,” Carle said. “But his success in our state really demonstrates that he has the ability to connect with voters that normally have not been aligning with Democrats, and that’s going to be something that will be incredibly valuable to the national party as we move forward into the midterms.”?

Tres Watson, a former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky, said Beshear would probably consider a cabinet position to move into federal politics if Harris wins. Otherwise, Beshear must figure out a way to stay relevant if he wants to campaign for national office in 2028, Watson said.?

Beshear said in the Lantern interview that the national attention on him was a positive for Kentucky, and hoped that it would give the state “a seat on the national stage, whether that’s the ability to be in the room with those that are going to make decisions on grants, or the ability to talk about an issue that’s very important — and maybe even particular to Kentucky — and hopefully get positive movement or change related to it.”

Watson disagreed with the governor’s notion that the speculation had benefits for Kentucky. Watson added that he gave props to Beshear’s team because “they took someone who really, realistically, had no actual shot at getting the vice presidential nomination” and put him “into the conversation and raise his profile nationally.”?

Carle acknowledged that the national attention on Beshear shone a “big light on the great work that he’s done” in terms of economic development, supporting public education and expanding health care, but thought the governor was right it saying it could help Kentucky recruit businesses and added that it also could persuade prospective college students to consider Kentucky.?

“These are priority wins that people from around the country will get to see — that Kentucky is a welcoming place, that we care about our people, and that we’re an economy on the move,” Carle said. “So it puts us in a place where we’re an emerging state, and Gov. Besher being able to be on the national stage like that just highlights the kind of leaders we also elect here, or at least some of them.”?

Carle added that he does believe the speculation around Beshear will give Kentucky Democrats a boost heading into November elections. Democrats, including Beshear, are rallying against a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools. Additionally, Kentucky voters will decide legislative races around the state.?

Two candidates Carle is working for had fundraising events during Harris’ running mate vetting process with “overwhelmingly large crowds” and he credited the speculation around Beshear to that.?

The governor and the General Assembly

Beshear told the Lantern he wants to “lay the groundwork for more important changes we need” such as raising pay for educators and implementing universal pre-K. Those have been issues the governor has long called for and included in the budget proposal he submitted to the Republican-controlled General Assembly this year.?

The governor and Republicans in the legislature have a “fundamental disagreement” about how to raise teacher pay, Watson said. In response to Beshear on raising teacher salaries, Republican lawmakers pushed for salary changes through Kentucky’s Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) formula and to for them to be determined by local school boards and superintendents. The governor called for direct raises.

Watson said Republican lawmakers allocated extra funding toward one-time projects, such as infrastructure or water projects, rather than recurring cost like teacher raises or universal Pre-K.?

He added the governor and Republican lawmakers can work together when Beshear “comes to the table with an idea that is realistically something that Republican legislators would be interested in,” such as investing in economic projects like manufacturing plants for vehicle batteries. However, Beshear “tends to push things that are ‘pie in the sky’” that won’t gain support with Republican lawmakers and can say on the campaign trail “‘Look at these things I promised you that Republicans wouldn’t give you,’” Watson said.?

“It’s disingenuous. Republicans in the legislature are very frustrated by it, and I don’t see that changing,” Watson said. “You’re talking about changing ingrained behavior in three years. That’s probably not going to happen.

To implement his priority policies, Beshear will have to “take it to the court of public opinion,” Carle said. Beshear has long supported public educators and families who need child care and want to get a head start on education, Carle added.?

“I think if the governor makes a compelling case — which he often does — there will be pressure on the legislature to start to enact some of the policies that we know invigorate economies, that create safer, stronger, healthier communities and that provide relief for parents and give their children an opportunity so that they can compete in a world where education will be the deciding factor on how far they go in life,” Carle said.?

If Beshear wants to have policy influence for the remainder of his term as governor, it could mirror the actions of his father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, Voss said. That would include taking advantage of the legislature not being in session most of the year and using the discretionary influence of the governor’s office.?

Voss said the odds that Beshear could turn a new tide in his relationship with Republican legislative leadership is “pretty small,” and pointed to GOP criticism of Beshear during the Harris’ running mate consideration process. After Walz was selected, the Republican Party of Kentucky issued a statement saying it was “no surprise Kamala Harris took a pass on Andy. His years of controversy and lack of policy wins made choosing him a liability.”?

While some Republicans might have been excited about the possibility of Kentucky’s highest ranking Democrat leaving the state, Voss said, Republicans added to the criticism of Beshear, which shows “that the bad blood runs a little too deep.”

The U.S. Supreme Court, pictured, issued an order maintaining a block on new Title IX rules while a challenge is heard in an appeals court. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected efforts by the Biden administration to temporarily put on hold a federal court’s decision that blocks a central part of new Title IX rules for schools from going into effect.?

The order by the justices allows a decision made by Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Kentucky to block the rules to remain in place for now. Reeves had sided with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and five other Republican attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging the new Title IX rules, which aim to protect transgender students.

A federal appeals court last month also declined to put on hold Reeves’ decision, and that court is hearing an appeal of Reeves’ decision in October.?

“The Court expects that the Courts of Appeals will render their decisions with appropriate dispatch,” the majority of justices wrote.?

The order also agreed to leave in place another federal court decision blocking the new Title IX rules brought separately by the Louisiana attorney general and three other Republican attorneys general.?

Coleman in a statement on the order said the Republican attorneys general were defending “equal opportunities for Kentucky’s women and young girls” at the country’s highest court.?

“The Biden-Harris Administration is threatening to rip away 50 years of Title IX protections. Together with our colleagues in Tennessee and four other states, we are fighting to uphold the promise of Title IX for generations to come,” Coleman said.

Title IX deals with sex-based discrimination at any school that receives federal funding.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miquel Cardona previously said in a statement the new Title IX rules would have built “on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.”?

The rules, which would have went into effect Aug. 1, sought to roll back Trump administration changes that narrowly defined sexual harassment and directed schools to conduct live hearings, allowing those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers.

Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia joined Kentucky challenging the administration’s order.

Reeves’ opinion said the states represented in the lawsuit argued that the Title IX rules would “invalidate scores of States’ and schools’ sex-separated sports policies.” The Kentucky General Assembly passed such a law in 2022 to require athletes in schools to play on teams associated with their biological sex

A sponsor of that law, Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, applauded the U.S. Supreme Court order in a Friday statement, which he said “directly condemns the woke ideology promoted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Biden-Harris administration.” Henderson thanked Coleman for defending the law.

“Wokeism and gender ideology must never trump Kentucky values and the U.S. Constitution,” Mills said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Saturday morning with additional comments.?

The Kentucky Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case between the Jefferson County Public Schools board and the Attorney General's Office over possible special legislation. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT —?Kentucky Supreme Court Justices heard oral arguments Wednesday morning in a case that could determine if the board of the state’s largest school district is subject to a law aimed at curbing the board’s powers.?

The 2022 legislation at the center of the case is aimed at changing the relationship of the Jefferson County Public Schools board and its superintendent. Senate Bill 1, backed by Republican lawmakers, had a host of administrative and academic changes, including provisions directed at the management of JCPS.?

While JCPS is not named in the legislation, an appellate court last year found that the law would only apply “in a county school district with a consolidated local government,” and cited Section 59 of the state Constitution. “The only school district which meets this description is that of Jefferson County,” the opinion stated.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Matthew Kuhn, solicitor general in the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, argued that because the law focuses on a class of counties with a “consolidated local government,” the law was not special legislation, as that class can change as local governments evolve and can then be subject to the law. However, David Tachau, an attorney representing the board, countered that the law at present applies to a particular school district — JCPS — and is a violation of the state’s constitution.?

Justice Kelly Thompson, who represents the 2nd Supreme Court District, said while questioning Tachau: “This is not just a ‘locale,’ which I believe it violates 59, but … this is direct legislative interference, directly to the school,” referring to the section of the Kentucky Constitution that says the General Assembly “shall not pass local or special acts,” including related to the management of public schools.?

Thompson added that agencies like the Department of Education can also provide due process to school boards and give powers before he asked for examples of other statutes that direct boards to give superintendents more powers. Tachau said he was not aware of any such other statutes.?

Parts of the law affect all Kentucky schools

The JCPS board immediately challenged the law after the General Assembly passed it. In October, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that the law was unconstitutional, saying it singled out JCPS for special treatment. At the time, the Attorney General’s Office, then led by Republican Daniel Cameron, said it planned to appeal the decision.?

In front of the Supreme Court, Kuhn said that while only Jefferson County fits into the class of localities with a consolidated local government, the class is not closed to just that county in the future.?

“Senate Bill 1 does not apply to a particular locality, but to an open class of localities,” Kuhn said.

Parts of the law that would affect JCPS included limiting meetings of the board to once every four weeks, assigning broader power to the superintendent, requiring a two-thirds vote of the board to overrule any action of the superintendent and requiring the board to let the superintendent authorize purchases up to $250,000.

However, some sections of the law would affect curriculum in all Kentucky schools. The law established guidelines on addressing controversial topics related to public policy or social affairs. It also required schools to teach about 24 historical documents, many of which were already taught, like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, but added what some considered more political documents such as former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech, “A Time for Choosing,” which elevated his future in the GOP and is widely considered to have re-energized the Republican Party.?

Justices also asked several questions about the legal standing of the parties in the case. In lower courts, the Attorney General’s Office argued that the board did not have standing in the case because the superintendent, Marty Polio, was not named as a party in the case, but Kentucky’s education commissioner was.?

Thompson asked Tachau if the court “kick(s) the can down the road,” would the case come back to it. Tachau said some members of the board would likely still be interested in challenging the case.?

Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a statement after oral arguments that the “General Assembly took strong action to advance these goals, and our Office has defended this law all the way to the Commonwealth’s highest court.”

“Every Kentucky student – from the largest school system to the most rural – deserves a quality education. Hardworking teachers also deserve the support of an administration empowered to lead a large and complex organization,” he said.

Republicans in Frankfort have been looking to increase oversight of the management of JCPS. This interim session, a legislative task force has meetings scheduled to examine the school district’s governance and is made of politicians and citizen members. Any recommendations from the group must be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission by Dec. 1, ahead of the 2025 legislative session.?

Created by a House resolution, the group must review school districts with enrollment above 75,000 students. JCPS is the only one in the state that meets that criteria with an enrollment of almost 94,000 students.?

Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter said the court will render an opinion in the case as soon as possible.?

Signs hoisted by members of the Fancy Farm audience on Aug. 3, 2024, express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, a former attorney general, said he would be “curious” to see if a recent Attorney General advisory warning school districts to not use tax dollars to advocate for or against a constitutional amendment would have been rendered in response to a lawmaker discussing the same issue.?

“I’m curious whether it would have been issued if a state legislator had used their public letterhead or an official Twitter or Facebook account,” the governor told the Kentucky Lantern in an interview Tuesday. “If we are going to put out opinions like this, it has to be content neutral, and it has to apply to more than just a school district fighting for its funding.”?

Pulaski County Schools, a public school district seated around Somerset with more than 7,500 students, has faced backlash from Republicans regarding a post on its Facebook page and school websites advocating against Amendment 2. It’s since taken down the post and replaced it with a new message from Superintendent Patrick Richardson, who said the district will comply with a Tuesday advisory from Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman “until it is overruled.”?

If passed, Amendment 2 would allow the Kentucky General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, such as private or charter schools. Advocates against the amendment say the change could cut into funding for existing public schools.

Beshear, who has been among Kentucky Democrats speaking against Amendment 2 since the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved putting it on the ballot, said that he’s been the subject of similar efforts to control his messaging. Last year, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled a 2022 piece of legislation that aimed to stop the governor from spending public funds to challenge legislative actions was unconstitutional.?

“We went to court, and we won that because that’s part of my job,” Beshear said. “When you look at Pulaski County, they stand to lose a significant amount of funding, and none of that funding will stay in that region. That is a public school district advocating for its own funding and just being honest with people that if that constitutional amendment passes, it will cut them significantly.”?

The attorney general’s advisory, which was “to remind those entrusted with the administration of tax dollars appropriated for public education that those resources must not be used to advocate for or against” proposed Constitutional Amendment 2, came after Republicans claimed Pulaski County Schools violated state law by using tax dollars to advocate against the amendment.?

Richardson said in his statement that he didn’t agree with Coleman’s advisory, but removed the posts from the district’s official Facebook page and school websites in response to it.?

“I have advised district employees to not use district resources or use their time during school hours to oppose or encourage people to ‘VOTE NO on Amendment 2’, the voucher amendment,” Richardson said.?

The superintendent added that the school district was not contacted by the Attorney General’s Office before issuing the advisory and called it an example of “partisan politics at its worst.”?

“When elected officials work to silence people, that is a red flag that we should all take notice of what is going on,” Richardson said. “I do encourage my staff to work diligently for our students during the school day and, in view of this advisory, to only work outside of school hours and with their own resources and time to make everyone informed about Amendment 2 and its impact on public school funding in Pulaski County.”

A teacher waves to her students as they get off the bus at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville on Jan. 24, 2022, in this file photo. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

One Kentucky public school district is speaking against a proposed constitutional amendment that would affect school funding — raising questions about what school districts can say on political issues.?

Pulaski County Schools, a district seated around Somerset with more than 7,500 students, shared a message advocating against Amendment 2 on its official Facebook page Friday. Similar images were on the websites of each school within the district as of Tuesday morning. Some Kentucky Republicans, including Congressman Thomas Massie, suggested the posts “blatantly” broke state law.

Meanwhile, the district released a Tuesday statement that said nothing prevented it from sharing the posts, adding: “The Pulaski County Board of Education is not intimidated by the threats of politicians and advocates of Amendment 2,” which it called “an attempt to siphon off public school money for private schools, particularly Charter Schools.”

The school district’s online messages cited data specifically about how the amendment would affect the district from a recent Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KyPolicy) report.?

If passed, Amendment 2 would allow the Kentucky General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, such as private or charter schools. Advocates against the amendment say the change could cut into funding for existing public schools.?

KyPolicy, a progressive think tank, estimated that Pulaski County Schools could lose between 8% to 16% of its current budget based on two possible models from other states if the amendment passes.?

Superintendent Patrick Richardson shared a statement from the school district with the Kentucky Lantern via email. The statement says school board members have received open records requests “for their private cell phone and devices for texts or emails discussing this issue” and acknowledged a call for the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office to investigate the posts.

“Pulaski Board members have been threatened and intimidated by some on social media for speaking against this and for exercising their First Amendment rights,” the statement said. “The US Supreme Court said long ago that those rights are not surrendered at the school house gate.”

The school district cited a landmark Kentucky Supreme Court decision, Rose v. Council for Better Education, saying that state law gives the district’s school board “the power to do ‘all things necessary’ to carry out its duties and responsibilities.” The district added that Amendment 2 focuses on school funding.

“The Pulaski County Board and Superintendent have a legitimate and legal right to protect public school money that should properly be spent on the public education of children in Pulaski County,” the statement said. “Nothing prevents the Board from taking a public position on this issue that goes to the very heart of the existence of the Pulaski County Public Schools. This is an ‘educational issue’ and a ‘school funding issue.’ The Pulaski Board Members and Superintendent have a right to speak against Amendment 2.”

Jennifer Ginn, communications director for the Kentucky Department of Education, said in an email that public schools and their leaders “may engage in conversations with their communities to educate community members on public school funding and measures that may impact funding to Kentucky’s public schools.”

“With knowledge of how public schools in their own communities may be impacted, individual community members may make informed decisions on matters impacting Kentucky’s public schools,” Ginn said.

Kentucky law has some limits on how school employees can engage in political activities, such as school board elections. State law also says that public funds cannot be used “against any public question that appears on the ballot.” However, there is disagreement as to whether the law applies to a school district.

According to guidance from the Kentucky School Boards Association, school district employees may have limited political speech during work hours. KSBA, which officially opposes the amendment, says in its guidance that school boards may discuss the amendment during public meetings and board members can share their personal opinions on the topic.?

“Districts always strive to stay within the bounds of policy and meet every letter of the law,” said Joshua Shoulta, the communications director for KSBA. “There is gray area between the use of public funds for lobbying — which is legal — versus use of public funds for what statute refers to as ‘political activity.’ Amendment 2 is a perfect example, as districts seek to inform their communities on the potential consequences of granting lawmakers broad new authority to divert public tax dollars to private schools.”

Pulaski County Schools’ posts has gained criticism from Republicans, including Massie, who represents Kentucky’s fourth congressional district. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Massie said the school district “is blatantly breaking the law by using public resources to campaign against a ballot initiative.” Pulaski County is in Kentucky’s fifth congressional district.?

T.J. Roberts, the GOP candidate for the House 66th District seat in Boone County, said on X that he was “extremely concerned” about the school district’s online posts and called for an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.?

“The people of Kentucky deserve to know whether their tax dollars are being used illegally to undermine parental rights and school choice,” Roberts said. “This kind of unlawful activity cannot be tolerated, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.”?

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman issued an advisory Tuesday evening “to remind those entrusted with the administration of tax dollars appropriated for public education that those resources must not be used to advocate for or against the” proposed constitutional amendment. Coleman’s advisory highlighted the section of state law prohibiting tax dollars from being used to campaign for public questions.?

“This prohibition on the use of tax dollars to campaign on either side of a ballot question necessarily extends to the use of any public resources paid for by those tax dollars to campaign either in support of or in opposition to the question,” the advisory said.?

The advisory said the Attorney General’s Office will continue monitoring reports about this topic and is “prepared to take any necessary action within its authority to ensure these constitutional and statutory limitations are upheld.”

In a Monday press conference at the Kenton County Courthouse, Coleman said he was aware of the post, which he called “pretty crystal clear.”

“If indeed there’s a violation of state law, we know what the facts are,” Coleman said. “We’re looking at the law. We will act with our partners accordingly.”?

The proposed constitutional amendment was a priority for many GOP lawmakers earlier this year, despite a small group of Republicans in the House and Senate ultimately voting against it. Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear, have strongly voiced opposition to it.?

Kentucky voters will decide to reject or adopt the amendment this fall on Nov. 5.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional comments Tuesday evening.?

The pool at the University of Kentucky's Lancaster Aquatic Center. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

This story was updated Aug. 12 to include a statement from the plaintiffs attorney.

One week after University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto issued a statement saying allegations of sexual abuse by a former swimming coach were “deeply distressing to all of us,” the university sought to distance itself from the case against Lars Jorgensen Friday by filing a motion to dismiss four of the six counts in which it was implicated in a lawsuit brought by former UK swimmers and coaches.

UK’s attorneys argue the university is “immune” from the claims of plaintiffs Briggs Alexander and Jane Doe based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling the 11thAmendment “bars a damages action against a state in Federal Court,” absent a waiver from the state or a valid congressional override. Additionally, UK says it bears no “vicarious liability” for Jorgensen’s alleged misdeeds, contrary to two counts in the complaint. The motion to dismiss was made late Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Lexington.

For legal precedent, UK’s attorneys cited a 2000 case in which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro was not held liable for the adulterous affair between a priest and the wife of a parishioner he was counseling. In that case, the court ruled, the priest “was not advancing any cause of the diocese or engaging in behavior appropriate to the normal scope of his employment.”

In short, UK is in sympathy with its swimmers who may have suffered during Jorgensen’s tenure, but is unwilling to pay for any pain he inflicted.

UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart, whom Capilouto praised last week for “more than two decades of exemplary leadership and students-first approach,” echoed the university’s response in a joint filing submitted Friday. The lawsuit accused Barnhart of intentionally concealing allegations against Jorgensen.

Former UK swimming coach Gary Conelly, who hired Jorgensen and was subsequently succeeded by him, also filed a motion to dismiss the counts against him, asserting he was immune from the suit as a university employee; that he was not indifferent to allegations against Jorgensen, contrary to the complaint, but investigated them at the time of his hiring; and that he could hardly be held responsible for conduct that occurred more than a decade after he left the university.

“The motions to dismiss filed by the University of Kentucky, Mitch Barnhart and Gary Conelly bear no weight on the merits of the lawsuit?we filed in April,” plaintiffs attorney Megan Bonnani said in a prepared statement. “This is standard legal procedure?and?another way for the defendants to avoid accountability. We remain?steadfast in our pursuit of justice on behalf of the brave plaintiffs who came forward about the sexual abuse and toxic environment they were forced to endure.”

In the lawsuit, Briggs Alexander, a former UK team captain and assistant coach, claims to have been raped four times by Jorgensen between 2009 and 2013. Alexander was then known as Bridgette Alexander. Jane Doe, another former UK swimmer and coach who has chosen anonymity, says Jorgensen was guilty of sexually abusing her. A third UK swimmer, identified in the complaint as Jane Doe 2, also claims to have been raped by Jorgensen but is not party to the lawsuit.

Though Jorgensen told The Athletic “none of that is true” when confronted with the allegations, docket records available online show Jorgensen has yet to submit a response to the amended complaint filed June 25. Nor is there a record of Jorgensen seeking an extension to his initial response deadline of July 26. A call seeking clarification from Judge Karen Caldwell’s office was not immediately returned.

When the original complaint was filed on April 12, UK spokeswoman Kristi Willett said university police were “in the process of assessing” information received. Asked Friday about the possibility of criminal charges, Willett said, “We have no additional information with respect to that at this time.”

In his statement last week, Capilouto said the most serious allegations against Jorgensen “were only known to us” once the lawsuit was filed, though Barnhart and Conelly received email warnings about Jorgensen’s conduct with women when he was first hired in 2012. According to the lawsuit, UK’s Title IX office received warnings about Jorgensen as early as 2015 or 2016 and was alerted to two complaints against him in August, 2019. Alexander said she contacted UK’s Title IX office about Jorgensen’s alleged abuses in May, 2023.

“I thought I could trust them,” Alexander said during a Zoom press conference in April. “I disclosed my abuse and thought it was being taken care of. And months went by and I never heard anything back. So I reached out. I was just repeatedly discouraged and vigorously discouraged to not come forward and not publish this reporting. That’s what’s hurting me the most at this moment.

“Title IX offices are there to protect student-athletes. When our coaches aren’t protecting us in the situation (Jorgensen) wasn’t, we should have been able to trust the Title IX office and none of us could.”

Reforms planned at UK

Capilouto acknowledged the need to do better in his statement last week, announcing numerous reforms and underscoring the athletics administration’s responsibility to report allegations as soon as they become aware of them. Among the university’s new initiatives are the hiring of additional personnel to investigate allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct and an emphasis on better caseload and records management to help ensure sexual harassment and misconduct cases are investigated and resolved more swiftly.

Other changes include more robust pre-employment screening, and those found responsible for significant violations will be ruled “not eligible for rehire” in personnel files. In addition,? all university employment contracts will now include language laying out the consequences for failure to report sexual harassment or misconduct.

“Mitch and I are sickened by allegations that members of the UK community suffered harm because of the actions of someone entrusted to protect and empower our student athletes and staff,” Capilouto said. “We will not tolerate abuse, and neither should anyone who is a member of our community.”

A bipartisan bill that has been pre-filed ahead of the legislative session would allow certain Kentucky school districts to get more financial support from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture when funding is available. (Getty Images)

Kentucky lawmakers from both parties are hoping to lessen childhood hunger while also supporting farmers with new legislation set to be introduced in next year’s legislative session.?

The pre-filed legislation from Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, and Reps. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, and Scott McPherson, R-Scottsville, would establish the “Kentucky Proud School Match Program.”?

In a statement Friday, Aull said the program would “make farm-to-table more of a reality in our school lunchrooms and have the state becoming a bigger financial partner.”?

The new program would allow Kentucky school districts that participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)? — a federal program reimbursing districts for the costs of providing free school breakfast and lunch in low-income areas — to get more financial support from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture when funding is available. About 90% of all public school districts and private schools in Kentucky participate in CEP, according to state data.

For school districts to get that additional support they would have to create a plan to reduce food waste and buy “Kentucky-grown agricultural products” that could prioritize “Kentucky Proud” branded products.?

“We know this program benefits both our children and our ag economy. Increasing the state’s investment will return even greater results, particularly with rising costs due to inflation and federal pandemic relief funds coming to an end,” McPherson said in a statement.?

A previous study partly supported by the food bank network Feeding Kentucky found Kentucky school districts generally lagged behind on incorporating local farm products into school meals. According to a press release on the pre-filed bill, Kentucky was one of the first 10 states to participate in CEP when it was established in 2010. More than 500,000 Kentucky students currently take advantage of it.?

“Since most schools are already using CEP, we believe the state needs to be a better financial partner in this effort,” Armstrong said in a statement. “For many children, a school cafeteria is the only place they regularly get nutritious meals, and studies are clear that students who are not hungry are more likely to do well academically.”

Al Chandler, a pastor and superintendent of the only private school in Graves County, told the Lantern he does not think his Christian school would "benefit greatly" if voters approve Amendment 2. Chandler gave the invocation at the Graves County Republican Breakfast, part of the Fancy Farm political festivities, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

GRAVES COUNTY ?— Al Chandler, superintendent of Northside Baptist Christian School, the only private school in Graves County, plans to vote for Amendment 2 — but not because he thinks his local public schools are failing students or families.

“We really have wonderful, wonderful schools. Mayfield and Graves (County) both in our county, are just great schools,” Chandler said. “That really makes the conversation even more muddied if we bring it into our region up here because of the quality of choices that we have.”

Kentucky is in a minority of states that has no charter schools or voucher programs to help families pay for private schools. That could change if voters on Nov. 5 approve Amendment 2, which would lower barriers in Kentucky’s Constitution that have blocked a charter school law?and tax credits supporting private school tuition.?

If voters approve the amendment, which was put on the ballot by Republican lawmakers, Kentucky’s legislature for the first time would be free to fund private schools with public money, though the amendment offers no specifics on what form state support would take.

That prospect worries educators and school officials in Graves County who fear public education would be weakened if state funding is diverted into private schools.?

“It’ll hurt us financially. I mean, it will,” said Janet Throgmorton, the principal of Graves County High School who’s driven school buses across the rural county spanning 566 square miles, the seventh-largest in the state. She took on regular bus driving duties during the pandemic as the district, like others, faced a driver shortage. “They’re not thinking about a school district that travels thousands and thousands of miles because our county is so large and rural.”?

Amendment 2 was a hot topic of debate on stage at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic, but interviews with parents the day before the early August event suggest educating voters will be a challenge for both sides. Also, parents, at least in Graves County, are bullish on their public schools.

“This is just such a great school and they offer so many things, essentially for free,” said Brooke Lowry, whose 14-year-old son Vin starts his freshman year at Graves County High School this week. “He can graduate and have a welding certificate and go get a job automatically out of high school.”?

Lowry, who lives in the Mayfield Independent Schools district but sends her son to the county schools, wasn’t aware of Amendment 2 and was not sure about the idea of allowing public funding to go to non-public schools.?

Whether rural support for public schools will translate into opposition to the amendment is uncertain, but it’s the goal of the public education advocacy coalition Protect Our Schools KY and the Kentucky Education Association, the state’s largest union representing teachers. KEA members in red shirts waved signs among the throngs of onlookers at the Fancy Farm Picnic.

Chandler, lead pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Mayfield, and the Republican lawmakers who represent West Kentucky in Frankfort, talk about the need for more educational “choice,” not necessarily in their hometowns but in other Kentucky places that have, in Chandler’s words, “a lot more controversy, a lot more issues.”

Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, who voted to put Amendment 2 on the ballot, told a breakfast crowd before the Fancy Farm picnic that “KEA and the Jefferson County Teachers Association hate this amendment.” Howell also said West Kentucky “has really good school systems.” Rep. Richard Heath, R-Mayfield, told the Lantern the focus of the amendment is larger school districts like Jefferson County and less so West Kentucky.?

The state’s largest school district, Jefferson County Public Schools, has been a target of GOP criticism for years, most recently for a transportation debacle that saw school buses running hours behind schedule in getting kids home at the beginning of school last year.

Chandler, who was a Graves County public elementary school teacher and had homeschooled his kids before leading his Christian school, said more funding doesn’t always fix issues a school district is grappling with.?

Supporters of the amendment, including the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, have argued public school funding should be controlled by families.?

“Does it hurt them by not being able to provide more resources to Jefferson and Fayette? You know, maybe,” said Chandler, referencing the amendment’s possible effects on the state’s two largest school districts. “Sometimes there needs to be some other options to bring out maybe what that community’s strengths are.”?

Funding worries amid a return to normalcy

Any disruption in state education funding could be acutely felt in Mayfield and Graves County, which are still recovering from natural disasters that damaged property and took lives, including a record rainfall event that caused damaging flooding last year and a catastrophic tornado that tore through Mayfield in 2021.

But signs of normalcy are returning to the county of about 36,000 people. Throgmorton, the high school principal beginning her 29th year in public education, said some students who lost homes are now living in newly rebuilt fully furnished ones. And the new stop lights are working.

“Have you ever been thankful for a stoplight?” Throgmorton said. “It feels normal. Like that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”?

Funding is a constant concern for educators, she said, especially with costs rising because of inflation. Salaries are the biggest item in school budgets. But schools also have to buy toiletries, pay electricity and water bills, fuel school buses and provide students laptops — including when they occasionally get broken.?

“I always tell people that when they say, “Where’s all the money go? They get all these millions of dollars,’” Throgmorton said. “All those expenses you have at home, we have here.”?

The GOP-dominated state legislature this year did increase funding to school districts, though not as much as Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear had called for. Instead of giving the direct 11% raise Beshear had proposed, the legislature encouraged public school districts to raise teacher salaries with the increased school funding. Graves County Schools and Mayfield Independent Schools both gave a 3% raise to their teachers.?

As fall campaigns begin and debate heats up around the amendment, Throgmorton raises questions: Where would the public funding come from to support private schools? Would transportation costs be covered for private schools since some students’ families don’t have reliable transportation? Would private schools that receive public funds be held to the same educational standards and accountability as public schools??

Jennifer Ginn, a Kentucky Department of Education spokesperson, said standards set for public schools that private schools are not subject to include state assessment and accountability and high school graduation requirements. The leader of a private school determines curriculum, Ginn said, while a public school district superintendent has control over curriculum.?

Throgmorton also joins critics who say Amendment 2’s ballot language is potentially deceiving; the preamble asks voters whether “to give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children.”?

“Why are we making this decision when you haven’t even laid out a plan about what that’s going to look like?” Throgmorton said. “Because people may vote, ‘Yes, give everybody school choice.’ And then they may be just mortified at what they’re going to do and how that’s going to look.”?

Republican lawmakers have said little about what comes next, that approval of Amendment 2 just provides the legislature with the option to publicly fund private schools. Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, the primary sponsor of the bill that put Amendment 2 on the ballot, spoke on the Fancy Farm stage. She said accountability concerns surrounding public money for nonpublic schools could be addressed in future legislation — but only if the amendment passes this fall.?

The left-leaning think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy in a July report found if Kentucky were to set up a school voucher program similar to the program in Florida, it would cost Kentucky over $1 billion. The think tank also estimates at least 65% of vouchers used in other states subsidize parents already paying private school tuition. Some religious schools in Florida have seen a surge of enrollment thanks to the state’s school voucher program, while other states have seen lawsuits over whether public funding should go to religious schools.?

The think tank researchers wrote Kentucky’s poorest school districts would be hit hardest if public funding is diverted from public schools, considering that some of the poorest school districts rely the most on state dollars. Some Eastern Kentucky Republicans joined with Democrats earlier this year in voting against the legislation that put Amendment 2 on the ballot, also concerned about harm to their public schools facing disaster recovery challenges from floods.?

When asked about that report and opposition from some in the GOP, Miles said there isn’t “a voucher in this amendment” and that “opponents are going to make up things” about the amendment.?

“Any parent that wants to choose right now, they choose. If they can afford to choose, they choose. There’s a lot of children out there and parents that can’t choose,” Miles said. “If every parent and child is happy in Graves County Schools, it would be exactly the way it is.”?

Chandler, the private school principal, said he understood the “fear” of public schools potentially losing funding, but he doesn’t see that happening in West Kentucky. He said he doesn’t think his Christian school would “benefit greatly” if the amendment passes.

He shared an anecdote from when he was leading a homeschooling co-op, mentioning he had conversations with a local public school official who was interested in helping homeschooling families with curriculum. But one of the primary reasons families were homeschooling, he said, was because they “didn’t feel comfortable with what was being taught” in public schools.?

“It seems maybe divisive, but yet at the same time it’s kind of a parental priority to do what’s best for your child and your family,” Chandler said.?

A community bonded through education

As the Fancy Farm Picnic weekend unfolded, the connections people had with local schools in Graves County were apparent, whether it was sporting clothing with school colors while walking around the picnic grounds to the people who put on the picnic themselves.?

Chandler, a Republican, gave a prayer the morning of the Republican breakfast ahead of the Fancy Farm Picnic speeches. Throgmorton has also attended the picnic for decades having previously been the Fancy Farm Elementary School principal for 26 years. The school was used as a resource hub in the immediate aftermath of the EF-4 tornado that devastated Mayfield.

Angela Richards, 52, was sporting a Fancy Farm Picnic shirt the day before the picnic as she and her 14-year-old son Noah walked out of Graves County High School finishing up orientation for incoming freshmen. Only minor complaints came from Noah as she asked to get his picture in front of the school.?

“We may be a small town, but we’re a very passionate town,” she said with a laugh when talking about Fancy Farm. He attended Fancy Farm Elementary, so Throgmorton will be his principal for a second time.?

Richards says having six elementary schools across the sprawling county — and the sense of community the schools build — is an asset. Even if students are funneled into the single high school, “you still have your grassroots from that elementary school.”?

“It’s neat that I think that you can grow up in those smaller communities and be more of a small hometown feel like Fancy Farm,” Richards said.?

Richards, who teaches at a beauty school in Paducah and has been a substitute teacher in Graves County, also was unaware of Amendment 2 and also unsure how she felt about? public funds going to private schools. Some teachers are working two jobs to make a living or buying school supplies on their own, she said.?

“It better not be taken away from my child,” Richards said. “There’s only so much money that the state provides that can be passed around. So if that’s going to make it worse, that would be something that I would totally be against.”

Signs hoisted by members of the Fancy Farm audience express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3 2024, during St. Jerome Catholic Church Picnic in Fancy Farm. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FANCY FARM — The stage at this year’s Fancy Farm picnic in West Kentucky was dominated by Republicans who used their speaking time to tee off on an absent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, sprinkling in attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, who has locked up the Democratic nomination for president.

Only two Democrats, 1st Congressional District candidate Erin Marshall and Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson of Lexington, were among the 16 speakers Saturday at the St. Jerome Church parish picnic, famous for barbeque, rowdy political speeches and even rowdier crowds.?

Republican speakers, ranging from U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to local elected officials, honed in on the upcoming presidential election in a county that former President Donald Trump, this year’s Republican nominee, won by nearly 57 percentage points in 2020.?

“Politics is a lot like cooking,” McConnell said. “A bad recipe and you get a bad meal. Kamala’s recipe is simple. There are three things involved with her campaign: chaos, prices and incompetence.”?

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman noted Beshear’s absence amid speculation that the governor is being considered by Harris as a potential running mate. Coleman chided Beshear for? “traveling all over the country auditioning to be vice president.”?

“But he won’t come to Fancy Farm,” Coleman said. “Friends, I really don’t know who she’ll pick, but I know it ain’t Andy.”?

A back-and-forth over Diet Mountain Dew between Beshear and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance also made its way into Republican speeches. Daniel Cameron, the former Republican attorney general who lost last year’s governor’s race to Beshear, took the stage as a surrogate for Trump.

“The Democratic Party has gotten so weird that they want to tell you what soda to drink. They’ve gone from a ‘war on coal’ to a ‘war on Diet Mountain Dew,’” said Cameron. “But I got some good news for you: you don’t have to be burdened by what has been. The GOP is a big tent party. Whether you drink Ale 8, Mountain Dew, Ski or just plain water, there is room in the GOP for you.”?

McConnell and U.S. Rep. James Comer, the two federal elected officials who spoke on the Fancy Farm stage, took turns attacking Harris over inflation, border policy and her past call to ban fracking, a stance she recently reversed.?

“I’m always honored to share this day with my colleague in Washington, who will go down in history as one of the truly great U.S. senators ever,” Comer said, gesturing to McConnell. The senior U.S. senator said earlier on Saturday it was his 29th time attending the picnic.

McConnell echoed past attacks against Harris, saying she was the Biden administration’s “border czar” but “she played hooky on the border crisis.” Democrats have pushed back on the notion that Harris was given such a title or role by the administration.??

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams also referenced Beshear’s ambitions to join Harris’ campaign, saying the Democratic governor “would be a good pick for national Democrats.”?

“Kamala Harris needs help with fundraising. And Andy Beshear can raise $200,000 off just one dude’s credit card,” Adams said, referencing a civil investigation by state campaign finance regulators into London Mayor Randall Weddle’s contributions to Beshear’s reelection campaign.

Beyond the Republican zingers, much of the energy from the crowd of onlookers was generated by opponents and supporters of a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall that, if approved, would for the first time in Kentucky allow public funds to flow freely into nonpublic schools.

A few dozen people wearing red shirts bearing the logo of the Kentucky Education Association, the state’s largest union representing teachers, waved signs saying “Protect Our Schools in KY” and “No To Vouchers,” a reference to the possibility that the amendment would lead to taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private school tuition. Proponents of the amendment on the other side of the crowd waved large apple-shaped signs urging a “yes” vote.?

“To paraphrase Gov. Beshear, vouchers ain’t from here and we don’t need them,” said Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, D-Lexington, speaking on stage. “This amendment is nothing more than a Hail Mary attempt to revive … voucher policies that Kentuckians don’t want, our students don’t need and the courts have faithfully blocked.”?

The Kentucky Supreme Court previously struck down a Republican-backed initiative to award tax credits for donations supporting private schools because the scheme violated the Kentucky Constitution, leading Republican lawmakers to put a proposal to change the Constitution on this fall’s ballot.

Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, who followed Stevenson on stage to speak for the amendment, told Stevenson that the emcee of the picnic, Father Jim Sichko, a priest from? Lexington, would have to have “confessional” after the speeches “for all the lies you just told up here.”?

“We no longer have a one-room school anymore,” Miles said. “They want to say it’ll harm public education. It may harm the systems, but it will not harm the teachers and the public education for every single child out there.”?

UK Chandler Hospital is located on the university's campus. Instead of building another hospital in the Hamburg area, it will develop specialty clinics, a UK official told lawmakers. (UK photo)

FRANKFORT — The University of Kentucky will not build a hospital in southeast Lexington because it wants to do what its network of rural hospital partners want: focus on its mission as a top-level care facility for the sickest patients, a UK vice president told a legislative subcommittee Wednesday.

The proposed Hamburg-area hospital “was perceived as us stepping outside of our swim lane” by the university’s clinical affiliates out in the state, Senior Vice President for Health and Public Policy Mark Birdwhistell told the Budget Review Subcommittee on Health and Family Services.

“We heard loud and clear, ‘We want UK HealthCare to focus on taking care of the sickest of the sick. We don’t want UK out doing primary care and secondary care.’ . . . That was very eye-opening.”

Birdwhistell reiterated, “The message we received loud and clear from our clinical affiliates was, ‘When our folks get that sick, we want them to come to UK. We want them on campus. We don’t them in a community hospital.'”

UK was in the planning process for a new hospital at the southern junction of Interstates 75 and 64, and had bought the property and done some initial work. Instead of a hospital, Birdwhistell said after the meeting, UK will build a clinic with specialty services like the one it has built in a former department store in the Turfland Center in southwest Lexington, but larger: “Turfland plus.”

The university will also build other clinics to serve its employees in Lexington and the Bluegrass region, many of whom are “having to get health care outside the system,” Birdwhistell told legislators. “We feel like that is our obligation.”

Birdwhistell was speaking to the subcommittee in a new role, which he said will include centralizing the university’s “government-relations activities across campus,” including “building a better partnership with the General Assembly. I felt I was uniquely positioned to do that.”

Previously, Birdwhistell was UK HealthCare’s vice president for health system administration and chief of staff. He was secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services under Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, and helped Republican Gov. Matt Bevin propose changes to the federal-state Medicaid program, which he had run before becoming cabinet secretary. He appeared with Angela Dearinger, executive vice dean of the UK College of Medicine, who was briefly health secretary at the end of Bevin’s term.

The General Assembly is firmly controlled by Republicans. In the recent legislative session, Birdwhistell was the university’s point man in changing legislation that helped Pikeville Medical Center and some other rural trauma hospitals but in its original form would have reduced some of the extra Medcaid payments that UK gets for being a “safety net” hospital.

That relates to UK’s recent takeover of other hospitals in Ashland and Morehead, which Birdwhistell discussed at Wednesday’s legislative subcommittee meeting. Speaking of UK’s absorption of King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, he said “Where we failed . . . is when you put that UK brand in front of that name, that brings with it an expectation of service, not predator,” which he said was the perception of some.

“And so, we’re readjusting a lot of the narratives to say, ‘When you have UK in front of your name, you go to a partner and say, ‘What can we do to help you be successful?’ It’s not ‘What do we do to crush you?’ And this is community health care. This is not our forte, so we’ve learned that lesson. . . . We can grow the workforce for those providers and not have to do it ourselves.”

Birdwhistell said UK can also serve as a backstop for its rural partners, noting that UK doctors rearranged their schedules one weekend to keep open the neonatal intensive-care unit at Pikeville, which would have had to close temporarily due to employee vacations. “That’s what we do,” he said. “That’s where we excel and that’s where we need to get back to.”

UK’s latest acquisition is St. Claire Medical Center in Morehead, where it has run a satellite medical-school program for several years. The College of Medicine also has satellites in Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky, and Dearinger said it has seven residency programs in Bowling Green, the state’s third largest city, and is starting residency programs in Ashland and Pikeville.

“We are trying to grow the number of doctors to stay in our state,” Dearinger said, calling UK’s Rural Physician Leadership Program “one of our crown jewels.” She said it has produced 120 doctors, most of whom are practicing in Kentucky, “the vast majority” in rural parts of the state. Later, she said 42 percent of all recent medical-school graduates from UK have stayed in Kentucky, far above the 24% of “a few years ago.”

Two Democratic legislators from Louisville, Sen. Karen Berg and Rep. Lisa Willner, asked Dearinger if UK has had fewer applicants for medical school or residencies due to restrictions on medical education, by which they meant the recent state law that bans abortions except in cases of threat to the woman’s life or permanent damage to a life-sustaining organ.

Dearinger said “To be honest, we have not seen a decrease.” She said she has heard anecdotal reports of students or graduates interested in obstetrics and gynecology going elsewhere, but “we are still inundated with OB applicants to do a residency at the University of Kentucky.”

Another Louisville Democrat, Rep. Sarah Stalker, noted a May 16 Kentucky Health News story, from Kentucky Public Radio, that said 15% fewer U.S. medical-school graduates applied to Kentucky residency programs in the 2023-24 academic year, and there was a 23% decline in those for obstetrics and gynecology, according to the Association of American Medical Schools., which blamed the decline on the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Dearinger said UK is still getting hundreds of “very good applicants, and we don’t have any problems filling our residency programs and fellowship programs with very high-quality young physicians. We are prioritizing as much as we can, Kentucky students, so that they will stay” in the state.

Roll call: Most members of the subcommittee did not attend the late-morning meeting. The chairman, Sen. Donald Douglas of Nicholasville, a physician, noted that at the start of the meeting and made an unusually pointed comment: “I expect my colleagues in the General Assembly to show up.”

This story is republished from Kentucky Health News, an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender student athlete, speaks at a press conference on LGBTQI+ rights, at the U.S. Capitol on March 8, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Bruesehoff spoke out against a proposed national trans sports ban being considered by Republicans on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A federal appellate court has upheld blocking central parts of new Title IX rules from the Biden administration and granted an expedited hearing in October.?

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday to block the rules from taking effect Aug. 1, shortly before most schools begin their academic year. The rules, created by the U.S. Department of Education, were aimed at protecting students from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.?

Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote in the majority opinion that all judges on the panel agreed the central parts of the rules should not take effect on Aug. 1.?

“It is hard to see how all of the schools covered by Title IX could comply with this wide swath of new obligations if the Rule’s definition of sex discrimination remains enjoined,” Sutton said. “Harder still, we question how the schools could properly train their teachers on compliance in this unusual setting with so little time before the start of the new school year.”?

Judge Andre Mathis wrote in a dissenting opinion that he would grant a partial stay, as requested by the Department of Education.?

“I am cognizant of Plaintiffs’ argument that the benefits of enacting the Rule’s unchallenged provisions are outweighed by the expense or confusion of phased implementation,” Mathis wrote. “But most of the expense is attributable to provisions that Plaintiffs neither directly challenge nor cite as a source of harm.”?

The lawsuit was filed by Republican attorneys general in six states — Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.?

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a statement that Title IX, which was established more than 50 years ago, “created equal opportunities for women and young girls in the classroom and on the field.” The Sixth Circuit ruling, he added, made it the first appellate court “to stop President Biden’s blatant assault on these fundamental protections.”?

“This ruling is a victory for common sense itself, and it’s a major relief for Kentucky families,” Coleman said. “As Attorney General and as a Dad, we’ll keep up the fight for my girls and for women across Kentucky so they can continue to fulfill their potential for the next 50 years and beyond.”

Madelyn Spalding, who works with the Kentucky LGBTQ+ youth-focused Louisville Youth Group and is a facilitator with the Kentuckiana Transgender Support Group, said it was “clear that the attorney general doesn’t care about these kids” who are part of the LGBTQ+ community in K-12 schools. She also added that as a transgender adult, she’s worried Coleman will use the arguments against the Title IX rules “as a roadmap to go after transgender adults.”

Spalding said blocking the Title IX rules would “create conditions that ostracize, exclude, erase, silence these youth with no repercussions.” Spalding added that adults who could speak up for students in these situations might lose school administrations’ support.

Spalding called it “disingenuous and harmful” to suggest that transgender kids are taking opportunities away from cisgender women or girls.

“I worry for the opportunities that are being taken away from women who are trans or cis(gender) being able to equally compete in ways that don’t boil down to essentially just their sex,” Spalding said. “It’s going to limit opportunities across the board and create social hierarchies, and what they’re doing is ingraining those — they’re enshrining those right now in the schools to keep down a certain type of student and show them there’s no place for them at the school.”

In June, Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Kentucky sided with Coleman and the other five GOP attorneys general. The judge said the Department of Education “seeks to derail deeply rooted law” with its proposed Title IX rules.?

“At bottom, the Department would turn Title IX on its head by redefining ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity.’ But ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ do not mean the same thing,” Reeves wrote. “The Department’s interpretation conflicts with the plain language of Title IX and therefore exceeds its authority to promulgate regulations under that statute.”?

Established in 1972, Title IX was created to prevent “discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance,” according to the Department of Education.

Coleman’s office said in a press release that K-12 schools that failed to comply with the new Title IX rules would have risked losing federal funding. Kentucky’s public and private schools received a total of $1.1 billion in federal funding last year.

The Biden administration introduced the rules to “build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona previously said in a statement. The rules also would have rolled back Trump administration changes that narrowly defined sexual harassment and directed schools to conduct live hearings, allowing those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers.

The Lantern has sought comment from the U.S. Department of Education on the latest ruling.

This story was updated with additional comments.?

Kentucky Capitol (Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — For almost 90 minutes on Tuesday, Kentucky lawmakers who tried to ban diversity, equity and inclusion in Kentucky’s colleges were told why such programs were needed in higher education. Yet, one legislator said DEI programs “segregate” students.?

Among presenters were two university presidents — Northern Kentucky University President Cady Short-Thompson and Morehead State University President Jay Morgan —? said they want their universities’ graduates to be part of a global workforce in presentations about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies at their respective institutions.?

In her presentation, Short-Thompson highlighted the more than 200 diverse student organizations NKU students have the option to join. They include religious, social, multicultural and academic groups.?

Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville, asked Short-Thompson how her son, who will soon go to college, could feel welcomed at NKU when there are no organizations for white students.

“I see there’s African-American alumni that come and participate, which is great. I see Black Student Unions. I don’t see white anything. No mention. I see Black male-female events. My son, what would he relate to on your campus?” Callaway said. “And how is this inclusive? And how is it promoting unity while you segregate Black, white? Well, we’re assuming there’s some whites that go there. We don’t know because there’s no mention of any activities for whites. So I’m having a problem understanding what the justification is when we use the terms of diversity to exclude, very specifically, my son.”?

In her response, Short-Thompson said having multicultural organizations is akin to the General Assembly having a Black Legislative Caucus — some people find value in those but not all attend them.?

Short-Thompson, who has three children who went to college, said her children enrolled and joined various organizations based on their different interests.?

“That’s an education — where you have the opportunity to learn about other people and other groups, and you have the opportunity to study abroad, and you have this great chance to meet people who come from other parts of the state or other parts of the country or around the world,” Short-Thompson said.?

According to NKU’s website, 77% of its student population was white in Fall 2022, compared to 9% African-American, 4% Hispanic and 3% classified as two or more races.?

The committee’s focus on DEI in higher education comes after legislation to end DEI programs and offices in public postsecondary institutions failed to pass during the legislative session earlier this year.

The Interim Joint Committee on Education will hear from remaining public universities during its September meeting, said co-chair Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris.?

Short-Thompson also told the committee that NKU has a diverse student body that includes students from all walks of life, giving them a chance to learn from and interact cross-culturally with students who are different from themselves. She added that the university does not have institutionally funded scholarships based on DEI attributes, does not have DEI criteria in its admissions and diversity statements are not a condition of employment, promotion or other kind of benefit.?

NKU does have 45 academic programs that are externally accredited, such as its education and nursing programs, on criteria that includes DEI curricular requirements.?

Short-Thompson said NKU wants to prepare graduates to be part of a “global economy,” which means learning and interacting with people who come from different backgrounds and perspectives.?

Morgan, in his presentation, said MSU has similar goals and wants its graduates to be “culturally competent.” More than half of the students at MSU come from low-income backgrounds, Morgan said. Therefore, more resources are spent on serving students in those areas.?

“Morehead State University values the diversity of our students, the diversity of our workforce, our overall people,” Morgan said. “We respect all people, and we want our students and our faculty and visitors to feel like they have a sense of belonging on our campus.”?

Morgan said that the university does not require DEI training for employees and does not require applicants to submit diversity statements.?

Travis Powell, vice president and general counsel for the Council on Postsecondary Education, said Kentucky was one of several states’ with a racially segregated higher education system that violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act decades ago. Since 1982, Kentucky worked to remedy that by implementing a desegregation plan, which included improving recruitment and retention of Kentucky’s Black college students. The state was released from the plan in 2008.?

Powell said CPE adopted a 2016 DEI policy that was integrated into the council’s strategic agenda.?

Tim Minella, a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy, said CPE’s DEI policies are “a barrier” to “ensuring access and opportunity” for Kentucky students. Minella was previously part of the Lewis Honors College faculty at the University of Kentucky.?

Minella said the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank, suggests that Kentucky lawmakers abolish “DEI bureaucracies” that allow students to be treated differently because of race and prevent colleges from requiring DEI courses for graduation and prevent colleges from requiring DEI courses for graduation.?

Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Reggie Thomas, who is from Lexington and has family members who attended UK, asked Minella if his intention was to “return UK to the 1950s,” as that’s around the time the university first allowed Black students to enroll at the institution. Thomas said a report from Minella provided to the committee was “quite critical” of the university.?

“The intent is to prohibit racial discrimination in public institutions of higher education — both in admissions and hiring,” Minella said.?

During the 2024 legislative session, two Kentucky lawmakers introduced bills aimed at curbing DEI in higher education that moved but did not get final passage. Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, originally filed Senate Bill 6 to prevent public postsecondary institutions from requiring employees and students to “endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint” as part of graduation or hiring practices.?

That bill passed the Senate, but was overhauled in the House to include measures from House Bill 9 from Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy. Her legislation would have ended DEI offices and programs at public universities.?

The Senate did concur with a House floor amendment to a postsecondary funding bill to prohibit the use of “any race-based metrics or targets in the formulas” for the higher education funding model.?

The Kentucky proposals followed a nationwide trend of conservative politicians rolling back DEI measures at colleges and universities.

Editor’s note: The spelling of a name was corrected in this article Wednesday morning.?

Sen. Michael J. Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, is co-chair of a legislative task force examining the Jefferson County Public Schools. (LRC Public Information)

Jefferson County Public Schools officials appeared Monday before a new legislative task force that will examine the governance of Kentucky’s largest school district.?

Led by Marty Pollio, the district’s superintendent, the officials laid out information about the district’s enrollment, financial records, governance structure and more to the Efficient & Effective School District Governance Task Force. Monday marked the group’s first meeting, which was nearly two hours long.?

Created by a House resolution, the task force includes lawmakers and citizen members. The group will review school districts with enrollment above 75,000 students and JCPS is the only one in the state that meets that criteria. Its enrollment is almost? 94,000.?

“The only purpose of this task force is to find ways to better educate our children,” Co-chair Rep. Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, said at the start of the meeting. “If you think that they are doing fine and they’re at the top, we want to make them better. If you think they’re struggling and at the bottom, we want to help them to do the best they can do.”?

Pollio, who had opposed the task force a few months ago, said the officials were providing data requested by the Legislative Research Commission (LRC). He said Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), like other school systems, has faced issues in recent years that stem from the coronavirus pandemic, including addressing chronic absenteeism among students, catching up on learning loss and dealing with? staffing issues.?

“In education right now, it’s one of the most difficult times in our industry — across this nation, in this commonwealth — in many, many years,” Pollio said. “And so during the time that I’ve been superintendent, major challenges have occurred that are occurring in almost all districts, but some that are specific to us as well. “?

According to information presented, JCPS attendance rate is now 88%, down from 93.2% in 2019. Its chronic absenteeism rate is 38.4%, up from 22.8% in 2019. Chronic absenteeism is defined by students who miss more than 10% of days in a school year. Its graduation rate has improved from the 2017-18 school year to present —?81.6% to 87%.?

The school district has more than 18,025 employees and a total budget of more than $1.985 billion.?

While the committee did not take any action other than asking questions of the presenters on Monday, it will meet throughout the legislative interim. The next meeting is July 29.?

The task force is required to submit any recommendations to LRC by Dec. 1.?

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy analyzed what effect voucher programs in other states would have if adopted in Kentucky. (Getty Images)

Kentucky’s public schools could take a big hit to their state funding if voters approve a constitutional amendment this fall allowing the General Assembly to begin funding private schools, a progressive think tank and several school leaders warned Monday.

The new report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KyPolicy) estimates that if Kentucky were to adopt an educational voucher system like Florida’s, it would cost Kentucky $1.19 billion annually, enough to pay for nearly 10,000 public school teachers and employees. Florida’s voucher system is the largest of its kind.?

The think tank also analyzed a smaller model, comparable to states like Arizona, and found it would cost Kentucky $199 million annually. That’s about 1,650 Kentucky public school employees.?

But first voters would have to approve Constitutional Amendment 2.

Jason Bailey, the executive director of Berea-based KyPolicy and one of the report authors, said in a Monday press briefing that the report reviewed existing funding data from other states’ voucher programs to predict what a Kentucky system could look like if Amendment 2 is approved.

“Amendment 2 would provide a blank check to the legislature to allow them to fund private schools for the first time,” Bailey said.?

The Republicans who control the legislature did not approve any enabling legislation showing what laws they would enact if voters approve the amendment. “Since the General Assembly did not include accompanying legislation showing how they plan to implement the amendment — as is typically the case with constitutional amendments — and since the proponents have been reluctant to talk about what they will do if the amendment passes, we must look … to what similar states are doing.”

Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, told the Kentucky Lantern in an interview that KyPolicy’s report was not “extremely relevant to the amendment.” The institute is supportive of voucher programs and charter schools as a way to increase education opportunities for students.?

“The amendment doesn’t create any ‘school choice’ program. It doesn’t create a voucher program. It doesn’t create a public charter school program. It doesn’t create an education savings account or a tax credit scholarship,” Waters said. “It simply allows the legislature to come back and debate that issue and decide that taking all of the factors into account — if the amendment passes.”?

Voucher programs give families money to be used toward paying private school tuition.

KyPolicy reports that “recent experience of other states shows that 65%-90% of voucher costs go to subsidize families already sending their children to private schools or planning to do so — a group whose average household income in Kentucky is 54% higher than public school families. Providing vouchers to that group will easily cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars based on the number of Kentucky students already in private school.”

The report says Kentucky’s existing private schools are in its wealthier areas. Three counties — Jefferson, Fayette and Kenton — are home to 52% of the state’s private schools. Jefferson County has the most at 33% while Fayette and Kenton counties have 10% each. Nearly half of the state’s 120 counties have zero private schools.?

Yet, a voucher system could disproportionately impact poorer rural counties where property values are low and therefore generate less property tax revenue for schools than in districts with more valuable real estate, KyPolicy found.

Kentucky’s wealthiest public school district — Anchorage Independent — would have to reduce its budget by 6% under the Florida model. Meanwhile, eight county school districts and six independent school districts would have to cut their budgets by at least 20% under the same model, the report says.

Rural districts, racial minorities fear amendment’s impact

Carter County Schools, a district in northeastern Kentucky, would have to reduce its budget by about 19% under the Florida model. Paul Green, Carter County superintendent, said Monday in the press briefing that his district already had a $750,000 deficit in its operating budget during the last fiscal year because of a “significant loss of enrollment” during the coronavirus pandemic. Carter County is also trying to figure out how it can afford salary increases for employees.?

“The majority of our funding comes from state sources. And as you get into the more rural, the more low-socioeconomic, the more land-poor districts rely more heavily on the state for revenue for schools,” the superintendent said.?

Green also expressed concerns about possible funding for homeschooled students, likening the amendment to “Pandora’s box” since it’s unclear what laws and policies would be implemented if the amendment is passed. If a system is created that allows funding to follow students not just to private schools, but also to homeschool programs, that could be an incentive for families to keep students at home, he said.

“Imagine you take a low-income family with three school-aged children, and you offer them $5,000 a year to homeschool their children,” Green said. “That could be $15,000 a year in cash money to a family to not educate their children or not put those children into school, and they then become schooled in a homeschool environment, which is unregulated with no way of anybody to check to make sure these things are happening in a way that actually educates our youth. That is a huge concern.”?

Casey Allen, the superintendent of Ballard County Schools in West Kentucky, said there “really isn’t a great reason for anyone” in his county to support the constitutional amendment. There are no private schools in the district, and under the Florida-model, Ballard County is predicted to lose 14% of its budget.?

Some Ballard County families do have students in private schools but must transport them to private schools in Paducah, the superintendent said.?

“The people that are currently seeking private school education will continue to seek private school education,” Allen said. “Families that leave our community will take with them the funding, and thus the jobs. … Other communities will benefit from our tax dollars. Employees of those institutions and retirees will live and spend their money in other communities.”?

Waters said in response to the superintendents’ concerns about losing state funding that creating competition between public and private schools could lead to better educational results.?

“The money is to educate the student, and our (state) Constitution says it’s supposed to be done in an effective and efficient way,” Waters said.?

Additionally, the KyPolicy report says there are “major disparities in the racial makeup of public and private school students.” As a whole, 78% of Kentucky students in public schools are white compared to 86% of students in private schools.?

Rev. Rhondalyn Randolph, the president of the Owensboro chapter of the NAACP, said the constitutional amendment would allow private schools to be more selective in the students they admit. Public schools often provide supportive resources for all students, such as afterschool programs and needs through Family Resource Centers.?

“If this ‘voucher amendment’ passes, it will only worsen the problem that we already have, and it will also further stifle the ability for public schools to be able to meet the needs of the students that are in need — of high risk students,” she said.?

Waters said that charter school laws typically include a first-come, first-serve policy and described that type of school as “public schools that deliver education in a more innovative way or in a different way.” Some also have a lottery system in situations when more students want to attend a charter school but there is not enough space.?

He also added that such schools only exist because parents are choosing them.?

“If parents choose not to send their children there, there’s not going to be any school,” Waters said. “So what greater accountability to answer a lot of these issues do you have than that?”

The amendment has been quickly swept up in partisan politics, as it was priority legislation for many Republican lawmakers during the last legislative session and Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear, have strongly voiced opposition to itAccording to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, three issue committees have formed to campaign about the amendment. Two are for approving the amendment while one is against it.?

The amendment is GOP lawmakers’ answer to courts striking down charter school, voucher and tuition tax credit legislation in the past based on the Kentucky Constitution. As it is now, the Constitution bars using tax dollars to fund any but the state’s “common schools” (or public schools), and courts have cited the Constitution when striking down the legislative attempts to fund private or charter schools with public dollars.?

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Thursday, March 14, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday passed?a measure to reverse an Education Department rule seeking to extend federal discrimination protections for LGBTQ students, though President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the legislation should it land on his desk.

House passage of the resolution on a party-line vote,?210-205, is part of a barrage of GOP pushback at the state and federal levels to the?Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX?since its April release. For all schools that receive federal funding, the rule protects against discrimination for students based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”

Twenty-six states with GOP attorneys general have?sued to block?the rule, and courts have temporarily blocked it from going into effect in 14 states on August 1.

The 14 states with temporary blocks are: Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller?introduced the legislation?in early June. A week later, the Republican-controlled House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved it. Miller’s resolution seeks to reverse the rule through the?Congressional Review Act, a procedural tool Congress can use to overturn certain actions from federal agencies.

In the Senate, Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith?also introduced legislation?in June to try to block the final rule under the same tool. The Senate version has gathered over 30 Republican cosponsors.

Rep. Virginia Foxx — chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and a fierce opponent of the administration’s final rule — said during the floor debate Wednesday that she wanted to preserve Title IX, which helped equalize funding for women’s sports and education programs beginning in 1972.

“Title IX ushered in a golden era for women’s competition and education,” the North Carolina Republican said. “There is sanctity in the community and tradition of these memories, these spaces and these opportunities for young girls.”

Regardless of whether the attempt to roll back the measure is successful in the Democratic-controlled Senate,?Biden’s veto threat leaves virtually no possibility it could be adopted this year.

Democrats, LGBTQ advocates in opposition?

Democrats and LGBTQ advocates have described the effort to overturn the rule as motivated by misinformation and fear.

“Unfortunately, this resolution has been clouded by misinformation, unfounded fears and with some, just hatred of transgender individuals,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, during the debate.

Oregon’s Rep. Suzanne Bonamici — ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education — said the resolution was “another attempt to undercut this administration’s efforts to empower survivors and protect all Americans from discrimination.”

“If Republicans truly cared about protecting women and children, they would stop this prejudiced rhetoric and take action on bills that would actually protect women from discrimination and harassment and defend women’s reproductive health care, make child care more affordable, preserve opportunities in workplaces for all parents, especially women,” Bonamici said.

Scott called on the House to “reject these narratives and focus on real issues of safety and equity.”

Final rule blocked in more states?

Meanwhile, challenges to the rule are playing out in a handful of federal courts.

Last week, Judge John Broomes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas temporarily blocked the measure from taking effect in the Sunflower State, along with Alaska, Utah and Wyoming.

Broomes also halted the rule from taking effect in “the schools attended by the members of Young America’s Foundation or Female Athletes United, as well as the schools attended by the children of the members of Moms for Liberty,” all groups that sued alongside the four states, per the?order.

Under Broomes’ order, the rule is also halted in an Oklahoma public school attended by a minor who is one of the plaintiffs.

In June, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana?issued a temporary injunction?barring the final rule from taking effect there, along with Idaho, Mississippi and Montana.

In Kentucky federal court, Chief Judge Danny Reeves?temporarily blocked the final rule?in the Bluegrass State, plus Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia. Reeves rejected the department’s request for a partial stay of the injunction while its appeal plays out, per a?Wednesday court filing.

The Education Department has confirmed it is appealing the other two rulings but did not have an update Wednesday on whether it is filing a notice of appeal on the most recent ruling in the Kansas federal court.

The spokesperson reiterated earlier this week that the agency has “asked the trial courts to allow the bulk of the final rule to take effect in these states as scheduled, on August 1, while the appeals are pending.”

LGBTQ advocacy groups push back on GOP effort

Allen Morris, policy director for the advocacy group National LGBTQ Task Force, said the vote was part of a pattern of anti-LGBTQ policy measures.

“When you look at the rise in hatred and the rise in violence and the rise of young LGBTQ individuals not having the support that they need, where suicide rates are high, it is disappointing to see our opposition go against us with such a high level of intention,” he said.

Morris told States Newsroom that “a lot of what is happening with this extremism is not founded in truth.”

“It is founded in ways to spew hate and to spew fear. It is a lot of fear mongering, and it’s anything to make people feel like their backs are up against the wall, or as if they don’t have the power,” he said.

Echoing a previous statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said it “does not comment on pending legislation” and emphasized that all schools receiving federal funding are obligated to comply with the new regulations as a condition of receiving those funds.

The department has yet to finalize a separate rule establishing new criteria for transgender athletes.

A teacher waves to her students as they get off the bus at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville on Jan. 24, 2022, in this file photo. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Five citizens have been selected to join a legislative task force that will examine Jefferson County Public Schools’ governance.?

The General Assembly passed House Concurrent Resolution 81 to create the Efficient and Effective School District Governance Task Force during the last legislative session. The task force will review school districts with enrollment above 75,000 students. JCPS is the only school district in the state that meets that criteria.?

Citizens could submit applications to join the task force, with the exception of the person designated by the JCPS superintendent. The selections by the Legislative Research Commission are:?

• Angela Masden-Wilson and Brittany Abdelahad as resident-parent members. They met requirements such as being taxpayers within the school district, having children either attending JCPS or are a recent graduate, and not being a school district employee.?
• Jody Wurtenberger is the business member. To be eligible for this position, Wurtenberger had “experience in the finance, management, and operations of large businesses that operate in the commonwealth.” Wurtenberger recently wrote an opinion column published by the Louisville Courier Journal supporting a proposed constitutional amendment for “school choice,” which would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?
• George Nichols is the teacher member. To qualify, this person must be a current employee and have worked in the district for at least five years. He teaches at Iroquois High School and is the treasurer of the Jefferson County Teachers Association.?
• Rebecca Nicolas is the principal member. She was chosen out of a list of three principals selected by the superintendent. She is the principal of Fern Creek High School.?

The task force’s first meeting will be held on Monday, July 15. The meeting agenda includes a presentation by Marty Pollio, the JCPS superintendent.?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear had vetoed the legislation, calling it in his veto message “unconstitutional special legislation” aimed at one school district and “the General Assembly’s latest attempt to set the framework for the legislature to divide” JCPS — a decision that should be a local decision and not a legislative one, the governor argued. His veto was overridden.?

Six lawmakers are on the task force. Rep. Kim Banta, R-Fort Mitchell, and Sen. Michael J. Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, are the co-chairs of the task force.

Kentucky State University. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT —?A year into his presidency, Koffi Akakpo is optimistic that Kentucky State University will enroll significantly more students this fall.

In a recent interview, Akakpo said Kentucky’s only historically black public university is on its way to overcoming problems that put KSU into crisis a few years ago.

“We’re still working on it, but I’m pleased where we are,” he said. “Policies have been updated. People have been held accountable.”

Akakpo, previously president of Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, said his vision is to move KSU toward sustainability while supporting academic programs “that meet the needs of our region, the state’s and our country.”

He pointed to new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs at KSU. The university has received approval to begin bachelor’s programs in manufacturing engineering technology, cybersecurity and biological and agricultural engineering.?

“That doesn’t mean we will neglect our liberal arts mission, but as things evolve throughout the world, we also need STEM to be part of what we do,” Akakpo said.?

Last fall, the university’s total enrollment was 1,689. Akakpo said this fall’s goal is 3,000. He predicted KSU will either meet that number or be very close to it.?

In 2022, the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation that required the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) to oversee a management improvement plan for KSU and allocated $23 million to offset the university’s budget shortfalls.?

A previous administration had misused funds , and KSU had received a warning from its accreditation body.?

Travis Powell, vice president and general counsel for CPE, said KSU has “made a lot of progress” since the management plan was implemented, but “there’s a lot to be done.” KSU representatives recently told a legislative committee KSU had completed 53 of its 130 improvement plan objectives.?

Powell said CPE has seen improvements in revising policies and procedures and increased and more accurate financial reporting by KSU. KSU had a general operating budget of about $32 million, according to a budget overview for the 2023-24 fiscal year,.?

“There’s definitely a path forward for them, and we’re pleased with the progress we’ve seen today,” Powell said.?

CPE’s final report for the 2022 legislation is due to the General Assembly in November 2025, Powell said. While KSU technically has until then to complete the list of deliverables, CPE outlined a schedule to complete them by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year, giving a few months to make final evaluations.?

Akakpo has brought stability and a vision for KSU to the institution over the past year, Powell said. The confidence has also permeated through the university’s staff and hires he’s made, Powell added.?

“He’s very strong in his position that KSU can thrive and be a shining star in the state of Kentucky,” Powell said of Akakpo.?

Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson, also praised Akakpo’s leadership. Wilkerson was on KSU’s presidential search committee. The mayor said that Frankfort and KSU have had a long history; KSU was founded in the state’s capital in 1886, more than 130 years ago. This time period will likely be remembered as a “watershed moment” for KSU.?

“I think he has the right mentality to change the mindset of the university, to start thinking bigger and to expect more,” Wilkerson said of Akakpo.?

Wilkerson said he hopes KSU continues to focus on programs that benefit the region’s workforce, particularly in nursing, agriculture, computer science and cybersecurity, and support 21st century careers that will be in demand.?

“What’s good for Kentucky State is good for Frankfort,” Wilkerson said. “Their success is our success, and I’m optimistic for the future.”?

Akakpo said he’s felt support from local, state and federal leaders since joining KSU.?

“Everybody wants to see KSU do well,” Akakpo said.?

‘Look at the future’

As KSU improves, Powell said the institution could become something the General Assembly wants to invest in from a strategic standpoint to move Kentucky forward.?

No money to build new nursing school raises old question: ‘When will it be Kentucky State’s time?’

“I think KSU expects to be funded fairly based on the students it serves and its size. But as far as any additional support beyond that, it’s always welcomed,” Powell said. “And I think if it does happen, it’ll be based on individual initiatives that come up over time, and who knows what those will be.”?

During this year’s? legislative session, the General Assembly set aside $60 million for KSU to use for campus maintenance and repairs in legislation earlier this year, along with $5 million for the design of a health science education building.

Powell said if KSU can focus on building a strong base in the short term, that can help with sustainability moving ahead. While it’s one of Kentucky’s smallestr public postsecondary institutions, it can focus on being high quality at the opportunities it offers students.?

“What I see for KSU is just being that really strong HBCU partner in Frankfort institution that is super high quality,” Powell said. “It’s never going to be for everybody. Some people are going to want that big school experience, but you’ll get that small school experience at a state school price at a really high quality level. I think that’s the ultimate future for the institution.”?

Akakpo said that at the moment, KSU is being pulled in different directions as it continues to complete goals under the management plan and review documents for its accreditation body, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). KSU is scheduled to give an update to SACSCOC in October.?

In August, the Board of Regents will review the institution’s five year plan during its retreat, Akakpo said.?

“Once all this is done, then we’re going to sit down together and look at the future and see how we can work in the greatest integration and work to make KSU one of the best HBCUs in the nation,” Akakpo said.

Kentucky State University. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT —?Kentucky State University has been awarded a $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation for an agricultural research incubator that has partners across the state.

With the dollars, KSU plans to establish a statewide research network that focuses on agriculture, climate change and access to fresh food called Driving AgTech Research and Education in Kentucky (DARE-KY). Other partners on the project include the University of Pikeville, Bluegrass Community and Technology College, Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and FoodChain Inc.

The project will focus on soilless food systems for more sustainable agriculture. The systems will be hydroponic and use fish waste as fertilizer to grow produce.?

KSU President Koffi Akakpo said the grant was a historic announcement for the university.?

“This project emphasizes impact — the impact on the commonwealth by Kentucky State University and partners, the impact on the economy, on education and on the future,” Akakpo said. “I could not be more proud.”

Representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. James Comer attended a ceremony on campus Thursday afternoon. Frankfort and Franklin County officials, Education and Labor Cabinet personnel and state lawmakers were also present.?

The Kentucky General Assembly set aside $60 million for KSU to use for campus maintenance and repairs in legislation earlier this year, along with $5 million for the design of a health science education building. Two years ago, legislators passed a law to give KSU $23 million to offset budget shortfalls and required the Council on Postsecondary Education to oversee a management improvement plan.?

While the university has faced numerous controversies in recent years, such as an accreditation warning and misused funds under a previous administration, current officials told lawmakers earlier this month KSU has completed 53 of its 130 improvement plan objectives.?

CPE President Aaron Thompson said Thursday that the NSF grant is “the kind of grant that gives you the base to build on other possibilities and outcomes.” He said such achievement signaled more good things to come.?

“We will get the enrollment. We will have the student success,” Thompson said during the ceremony.” We will have the innovative programming and we will have many more of these.”

Doris Y. Wilkinson (Photo provided by University of Kentucky)

Doris Y. Wilkinson, a University of Kentucky sociologist and part of its first class of Black undergraduates, died June 23. She was 88.?

Wilkinson entered UK in 1954, the year a U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawed racial segregation in public education and the first year that Kentucky’s flagship public university accepted Black undergraduates.

She had graduated from Lexington’s segregated Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, where, according to her obituary, she was valedictorian and homecoming queen.

Wilknson went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University and in 1985 a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She taught at Kent State University in Ohio before returning to UK in 1969, where she became the first Black woman to secure a full-time faculty position, joining the Department of Sociology.

She was director of the Project on African American Heritage in the UK sociology department, the winner of many honors and author of numerous articles and eight books, according to the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. She was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Harvard University in 1989-90.

In honor of UK’s 70 years of integration, in 2019, Wilkinson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters — “a testament to her lifelong commitment to academia and social justice,” says a UK release.

UK President Eli Capilouto described Wilkinson as “powerful, influential and, at times, larger than life.”

“It is with deep sadness that I learn of her passing, but I am comforted in knowing that her legacy continues to run deep across the foundation of our community. Throughout her life, she faced adversity with the kind of fierce determination and unwavering grace that pushed open doors and ensured they never closed,” Capilouto said. “We are grateful to be beneficiaries of her goodness and intellect, her perseverance and drive, her passion for education and devotion to progress. We are proud to count her as an indelible part of the UK family.”

Doris Yvonne Wilkinson was born ?June 13, 1936 in Lexington to Howard T. and Regina L. Wilkinson. She was preceded in death by her sister, Carolyn Wilkinson-Baker, and is survived by many first cousins. She was a member of East Second Street Christian Church and attended Historic Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at Milward Funeral Home, 391 Southland Drive in Lexington. Visitation will be prior to the service from? 11 a.m. to 1 p.m Internment will be at Cove Haven Cemetery, 984 Whitney Avenue, Lexington.?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. (Photo by Getty Images)

The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled against Biden administration guidance on how schools should protect students from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

The court ruled Friday that the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education is invalid, upholding a lower court ruling. Kentucky is among the 20 states that supported the challenge to the Title IX guidance. Former Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office filed briefs supporting the plaintiffs.

Most of the states in the case, including Kentucky, have bans on transgender athletes competing on school teams corresponding to their gender identity. The federal rules could have been at odds with those state laws or regulations, the plaintiffs argued.?

Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who was among the coalition of AGs, said the ban on transgender athletes “protects female students on the athletic field, as well as in bathrooms and locker rooms.”?

Earlier this week, a federal judge in Kentucky made a similar finding in a case brought by several GOP attorneys general, including Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman. That lawsuit is aimed at rules the Department of Education issued after issuing the guidance.

In a statement about that lawsuit, Coleman said the “ruling recognized the 50-plus years of educational opportunities Title IX has created for students and athletes.”?

A teacher waves to her students as they get off the bus at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville on Jan. 24, 2022, in this file photo. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Two parents have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Jefferson County Public Schools’ plan to drop bus service to most magnet schools this fall, claiming it violates the rights of their children to continue education at schools they currently attend.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville Thursday, comes two months after the board of the state’s largest school system, in a highly controversial move, voted to end transportation to most magnet programs because of a shortage of bus drivers. The vote followed the chaotic beginning to the 2023 school year in which students waited hours for their school buses or missed service altogether because of a restructured transportation system.

JCPS was forced to temporarily suspend the start of classes to try to fix the system.

A JCPS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thursday’s lawsuit echoes concerns of Louisville civil rights leaders who have argued that ending school bus service to magnet schools — which provide specialized programs or training — would disproportionately affect Black and low-income students whose families lack means to transport them to schools outside their home districts.

Overall, up to 15,000 students at nearly 30 schools could be affected although JCPS has said it is working on plans to try to restore some service for magnet schools.

The JCPS action could adversely affect up to 14,000 Black students, said the lawsuit filed by Louisville lawyer Teddy Gordon, a longtime legal adversary of the school system.

“I have come out of retirement and am in poor health in order to right the terrible wrong of JCPS current actions, especially the hardship that JCPS has placed on African American students,” Gordon said in a statement.

The lawsuit claims the JCPS transportation plan violates the rights of Black students, including the plaintiffs. It also claims that JCPS violated the state open meetings law through the hastily called meeting in April when the board adopted the plan.

And it notes the plan was adopted on vote of 4-3, with four white members voting for it, and the three Black members voting no.?

The lawsuit is filed by Mary Bledsaw, of Valley Station, and Taryn Bell, of West Louisville, and claims the lack of bus service would make it impossible for their children to attend their current schools.

Bledsaw has two sons in high school magnet programs, one at Male High and the other at Central High. Neither is close to their southwest Jefferson County home and likely would force both to attend Valley High, which the lawsuit calls “one of the worst high schools in Kentucky.”

Bell has a son enrolled in a magnet program at Whitney Young Elementary and without school bus service, could not attend it any longer, the lawsuit said. Instead, he would have to attend his home school, Martin Luther King Elementary, which the lawsuit also describes as “one of the worst schools in Kentucky.”

The lawsuit asks that a judge find the transportation plan violates the civil rights of students and block the district from implementing it.

JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said, “We just received a copy of the lawsuit and are reviewing it,”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. (Photo by Getty Images)

A federal judge has blocked new Title IX rules, including those aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination in K-12 schools, and sided with Republican attorneys general in several states — including Kentucky.?

Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Kentucky on Monday issued a ruling siding with Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman and his counterparts in five other states. The ruling prevents the U.S. Department of Education from “implementing, enacting, enforcing, or taking any action to enforce the Final Rule, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance,” which was set to begin Aug. 1.?

Coleman and the GOP attorneys general filed the lawsuit in April. At the time, they argued the Department of Education “used rulemaking power to convert a law designed to equalize opportunities for both sexes into a far broader regime of its own making” with the new Title IX regulations.?

Reeves limited the injunction to the plaintiff-states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.

The Biden administration introduced the rules to “build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. The rules also would have rolled back Trump administration changes that narrowly defined sexual harassment and directed schools to conduct live hearings, allowing those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers.

In their complaint, the state attorneys general said that under the Biden rule, “Men who identify as women will, among other things, have the right to compete within programs and activities that Congress made available to women so they can fairly and fully pursue academic and athletic excellence — turning Title IX’s protections on their head. … And anyone who expresses disagreement with this new status quo risks Title IX discipline for prohibited harassment.”?

Established in 1972, Title IX was created to prevent “discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance,” according to the Department of Education.

Reeves wrote in his opinion that “the Department of Education seeks to derail deeply rooted law” created by the implementation of Title IX.?

“At bottom, the Department would turn Title IX on its head by redefining ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity.’ But ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ do not mean the same thing,” he wrote. “The Department’s interpretation conflicts with the plain language of Title IX and therefore exceeds its authority to promulgate regulations under that statute.”?

In a press release, Coleman’s office said Monday that schools that would fail to comply with the new rules would risk losing federal funding. Citing the Department of Education, the office said Kentucky’s public and private schools received a total of $1.1 billion in federal funding last year.

“As a parent and as Attorney General, I joined this effort to protect our women and girls from harm. Today’s ruling recognized the 50-plus years of educational opportunities Title IX has created for students and athletes,” Coleman said in the press release. “We’re grateful for the court’s ruling, and we will continue to fight the Biden Administration’s attempts to rip away protections to advance its political agenda.”

A spokesperson for the department said it was reviewing the ruling.

“Title IX guarantees that no person experience sex discrimination in a federally-funded educational environment,” the spokesperson added. “The Department crafted the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process to realize the Title IX statutory guarantee. The Department stands by the final Title IX regulations released in April 2024, and we will continue to fight for every student.”

Kentucky politicians react

Reeves wrote in his opinion that the states represented in the lawsuit argued that the Title IX rules would “invalidate scores of States’ and schools’ sex-separated sports policies.” The Kentucky General Assembly passed such a law in 2022 to require athletes in schools to play on teams associated with their biological sex

A sponsor of that law, Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, applauded the opinion in a statement, saying it “or reining in excessive and capricious federal government overreach, in this case, by President Biden’s U.S. Department of Education.” He?added that he viewed the opinion as “as further affirmation of the necessity of legislation championed by the Republican supermajorities in the Kentucky General Assembly and defended by our Republican attorney general.”?

Another lawmaker who backed similar legislation, Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, said the ruling was “a move that will preserve the integrity of a federal policy created more than half a century ago to ensure biological females can compete on a level playing field.”?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear previously said he hoped Coleman avoided “fear mongering” in the lawsuit. In a Monday interview with the Lantern, Beshear said he had not read the opinion, but believed the lawsuit would be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.?

“I understand that there are different opinions, especially when it comes to sports and fairness and the rest, but I hope that we talk about this in ways that doesn’t ostracize anyone, that doesn’t demonize anyone, and that we can talk about what rules should be in sports without attacking anyone,” the governor told the Lantern.?

Read U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves’ ruling

UK's Main Building houses administration offices and classroom space. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LEXINGTON —?University of Kentucky trustees gave final approval Friday to a new internal governance structure that faculty say strips them of power over academic decisions.?

The Board of Trustees reviewed the new shared governance proposal, backed by President Eli Capilouto, during its Friday meeting, voting 19-1 in favor of the changes.?

The lone nay vote was from faculty trustee Hollie Swanson, who urged her fellow board members to consider voting against the measure until “more convincing data” is given.?

But another faculty trustee, Hubie Ballard, said a “clear majority of the faculty” support the changes. He also agreed with Capilouto’s argument that the new shared governance model will help move the university forward and align it with Kentucky’s needs.

“It’s unfortunate that a few have taken this disagreement and turned it into discord,” Ballard said. “That is not what this campus is. They are supportive of this president and our mission to serve Kentucky,” said Ballard, an associate professor of pediatrics.

Swanson, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Pharmacology, said she could not vote in favor of the changes without seeing more evidence to support them. She said they are based on a single report that may become public in response to an open records request after Friday’s meeting. She also added that the report was not available to board members.?

UK hired Deloitte Consulting to do a benchmarking study. According to a UK Association of Emeriti Faculty response to the proposed changes, the report found that UK “should align its shared governance structure to be in greater alignment with institutional benchmarks and recognize the board’s ultimate control of university policymaking,” but it was not shared with the University Senate, nor were it’s officers consulted when developing the report.?

Swanson said she expected to be outnumbered in voting against the shared governance changes.?

“Voting no is by no means a vote against the president,” she said. “It is a vote for more clarity, and more information.”

‘Time to accelerate’

On Friday, Capilouto told the board the changes are necessary for the university’s future. Capilouto has previously said the changes will streamline decision making. The shared governance update is one of the first steps of “Project Accelerate,” a plan to align the university to better fit Kentucky’s education and workforce needs and to grow UK.?

“They are our priorities because they are Kentucky’s problem,” Capilouto said. “Kentucky’s challenges are our responsibilities.”?

Under the new model, UK’s University Senate is now abolished and a faculty senate will take its place. The University Senate included 94 faculty members as well as representatives from the Student Government Association (SGA), Staff Senate and the president and other administrators.?

The university administration says the changes will strengthen the definition of “academic freedom,” faculty’s primacy over developing academic curriculum at the college level and the role of students and staff in decisions.?

The board previously voted 19-1 in favor of the shared governance changes during its April meeting. Capilouto revised the proposal since then as a response to feedback from students, faculty and staff.?

Members of the University Senate have warned that the changes would pave the way for faculty to lose decision-making power over academic decisions, such as admission standards for students. However, both the Staff Senate and Student Government Association have passed resolutions supporting Capilouto’s plan.?

During its final meeting of the 2023-24 school year, the University Senate approved a resolution of no confidence against Capilouto over the shared governance changes in a vote of 58-24 with 11 abstaining. The senate also also received support from outside groups, such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).?

Capilouto on Friday said examples of other recent steps to grow UK have been signing a transfer agreement with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and acquiring St. Claire Healthcare, a hospital in Morehead.?

The board’s final approval of changes to UK’s shared governance model comes at a time when many stakeholders are away from campus, as the spring semester ended in May and most students and many faculty return to campus in late August.?

“Project Accelerate” aims to direct the university to focus its resources and commitments on “accelerating efforts to advance Kentucky — its economy, the health and welfare of its citizens and its quality of life through a plan that ensures: more educated Kentuckians, more readiness, more partnerships, more employee recruitment and retention, more responsiveness.” Those later five points are the focus of workgroups that are studying each area in depth. Some presented reports in committee meetings ahead of Friday.?

After the board gave its initial approval to the shared governance changes in April, Capilouto said in an update the changes “create a foundation for the continued work ahead, to review and revise the daily management rules — our Administrative Regulations — that operationalize our principles.”?

Only one petitioner addressed the board on Friday —?former University Senate Chair Katherine McCormick —?and expressed support for Capilouto’s changes. Another petitioner, University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Senate President Joshua Bernstein, was granted permission to speak but declined. He previously wrote a letter to the board and Capilouto opposing the changes.?

In his remarks to the board, Capilouto also addressed the criticism that the shared governance changes have been made too quickly. He said now is “not a time for glacier speed” but “time to accelerate” as the board has directed these changes for years.?

However, Capilouto did concede to another point of criticism he has heard —?that he is “obsessed.”?

“I am obsessed. I’m obsessed with Kentucky and our future,” he said. “I believe that for Kentucky to grow, this community must grow.”?

According to a copy of the new shared governance regulations, the University Senate has been abolished. Elections for the faculty senate will be held no later than Oct. 31, and senators will take office no later than Nov. 30. Executive committee elections will be held no later than Dec. 31.

The campus of the University of Kentucky, where trustees are set to give final consideration to controversial internal governance changes on Friday. (Photo by Mark Cornelison | UK Photo)

Changes that faculty warn would end their decision-making power in academic matters are set to come before the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Friday for a final vote.

UK President Eli Capilouto, who says the changes are needed to streamline governance processes, has revised his controversial original proposal in response to feedback from students, faculty and staff, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said Wednesday.

Among the revisions made by Capilouto is one strengthening the definition of academic freedom, Blanton said.

Capilouto also rejected some suggestions from campus groups, which, Blanton said, is “precisely how the process is supposed to work.”?

“Indeed, this process of feedback and counsel was even more comprehensive as President Capilouto added conversations with hundreds of community members across the campus,” Blanton said in an email. “From those conversations, a proposal was made to the Board to include more voices and people at the table, to streamline our often-confusing rules and regulations and to return more decision-making authority to colleges and units, closer to where the expertise resides.”?

The UK board in April voted 19-1 in favor of Capilouto’s proposal.

In response, during its final meeting of the 2023-24 school year, the University Senate approved a resolution of no confidence against Capilouto. While it did not affect his status as president, the resolution was an expression of opposition to his leadership and the proposed changes. The University Senate is made up of faculty, staff and student representatives.

If the board’s final approval of the proposal comes Friday, it will be at a time when many stakeholders are away from campus, as the spring semester ended in May and most students and many faculty return to campus in late August.?

University of Kentucky Senate votes no confidence in president over governance changes

While the University Senate has approved multiple resolutions against the proposed governance changes, the Staff Senate and Student Government Association (SGA) have passed resolutions supporting Capilouto’s plan.

Members of the University Senate have warned that the changes would pave the way for faculty to lose decision-making power over academic decisions, such as admission standards for students.

The University Senate also has expressed a willingness to make concessions to staff and students.

“The University Senate is open to evaluating and assessing our current processes,” the University Senate’s website says. “We are willing to evaluate and determine whether there are better ways to incorporate the perspectives and expertise of staff members and students, whose input we have always valued and integrated into our procedures.”?

Defining academic freedom

The University Senate shared its suggestions and comments on the proposals in an email to faculty at the end of May. They include further clarifying the definition of “academic freedom,” removing the president from setting rules to elect trustees who are not appointed by the governor, and specifying in greater detail the role of a proposed President’s Council, which would be made up of leaders of the faculty, staff and students to advise the president.?

Blanton, the university spokesperson, said in an email to the Lantern that in the revisions the board will review Friday, “President Capilouto incorporated many of the proposals made by our shared governance groups, which included students, staff and faculty.” The revisions include clarifying curriculum that faculty has primacy over involves both credit-bearing and non-credit bearing courses as well as programs within an academic college.

Blanton said other revisions include strengthening the definition of “academic freedom” to include all instructional space and not just physical classrooms as well as making “the important point, offered by faculty leaders, that instructional spaces led by faculty will be places that often challenge students and can at times be uncomfortable. That’s how learning takes place.”

While the governor appoints most UK trustees, some board members are elected by faculty, staff, students and alumni. Blanton said the revisions clarify the board’s role in elections while “also acknowledging that there must be ways to change those processes to ensure that these elections are held in accordance with state laws.” He added that the General Assembly recently outlawed ranked choice voting, which allows voters to rank multiple candidates for an office based on their preference rather than selecting one candidate. Elected trustee positions are governed by statute.?

“Two of our shared governance bodies – faculty and students – have utilized that mechanism before, so there will be times when we must go to the board to make changes in election processes,” Blanton said.?

Capilouto also responded to proposals made by faculty, staff and students about adding “important areas of primacy, the policy areas that shared governance groups will consult regularly on with the administration,” Blanton said.?

Suggestions from the University Senate rejected by Capilouto include removing “a reference to the Board of Trustees as the ‘people’s representatives’ or to abolish recognition of a ‘graduate faculty’ on our campus.”

UK Board of Trustees Chair Britt Brockman said in a statement to campus after the resolution was approved that the board “unequivocally supports President Eli Capilouto.”?

The University Senate has also received outside support from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Senate President Joshua Bernstein. Both sent letters expressing concerns about the changes.?

“As you likely know, the proposal violates AAUP standards and long-established academic norms, according to which faculty have primary say over what is taught at the university,” Bernstein wrote to Capilouto and the Board of Trustees. “These standards are crucial for ensuring that learning is not politicized or subject to meddling. What happens in Kentucky could be replicated elsewhere to the detriment of learning across the country.”

Blanton said Capilouto agreed with “the overwhelming majority of our Board” that approved the proposed changes in April as a way to “streamline and clarify our rules to enable us to be even more responsive to the state’s needs.”?

“Along with other efforts underway – from thoughtfully growing enrollment to expanding care to more people, from undertaking an initiative to study housing needs across the state to new proposals to help us recruit and retain an outstanding workforce – we are following the direction the Board has given us: to find ways to accelerate our progress in advancing Kentucky,” Blanton said. “That’s what all these efforts are about – doing better so we can do more for Kentucky.”

Chronic absenteeism has risen among students in Kentucky's public schools. (Getty Images)

The number of Kentucky youth who are chronically absent from school skyrocketed during the 2022-2023 school year.?

The reasons for chronic absenteeism are interconnected and complicated — and the negative fallout potential is widespread, from mental health to the economy.?

Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff and child welfare advocates point to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its ongoing fallout, as a key culprit in this crisis.?

Building a habit of absenteeism in school carries over into work, said Florence Chang, a KDE program consultant.?

“Chronically absent students, high school students, … are likely to be significantly higher in absences from work,” she said. “There’s some habits there built up that the same people who miss school are the same people that may call in and miss work.”?

Absenteeism can also hurt a child’s ability to get a high school diploma or higher education.?

“Even if a student were to drop out at 18 and pursue a GED, their earning power with the GED is not the same as it is with a high school diploma,” said Christina Weeter, KDE division director.?

Child welfare advocates are keen to turn the trend around. They say doing so starts with parental communication and investments in comprehensive community services that serve kids outside the classroom.?

By the numbers?

In the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years, about 17% of Kentucky children were chronically absent, according to Chang.?

During the 2022-2023 school year, that number increased to 30%. (Data for the 2023-2024 school year is not yet available). This is even more critical for Eastern Kentucky, where 20% of students were chronically absent before COVID-19 and back-to-back deadly floods.?

Now, half or more of the kids in Eastern Kentucky are chronically absent from school, Chang said.??

“Even before the pandemic, that has been an issue in Eastern Kentucky,” she said. “And after the pandemic, and after the disaster hit that region … we can see that they have skyrocketed in absenteeism.”?

In West and Western Kentucky, too, where deadly tornadoes hit in 2021, absenteeism rose.?

“My suspicion is: it has to do with economically disadvantaged, poor counties maybe having less access … to resources, both learning resources and community resources,” said Chang.?

A student is chronically absent if they miss more than 10% of their enrolled time at school, according to KDE. Absenteeism is different from truancy, which has legal implications, explained Weeter. A student can be absent for any reason.?

The increase “is not specific to Kentucky,” Chang said. Chronic absenteeism is usually linked to barriers a student faces, like lack of transportation, a health condition or a work responsibility; aversion to school because of anxiety or lack of connection; disengagement from school following a time during the pandemic when children studied from home; and the idea that school is unsafe or one must stay home for every cough and sneeze.?

“It’s likely it is complicated and a combination of the four reasons — not just one,” Chang said.?

The 2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book, released by Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) Monday, links these chronic absences to widespread trauma and poverty. Kids Count is part of a national initiative from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

What does the KIDS COUNT report show??

The new Kids Count report shows there are more Kentucky children not proficient in reading and math. It also shows more high school students are not graduating on time and more 3- and 4- year-olds aren’t in school.?

According to the report, which tracks child welfare year to year:?

• 69% of 4th graders scored below proficient in reading in 2022
• 79% of 8th graders scored below proficient in math in 2022
• 10% of high school students did not graduate on time in 2020-21
• 25% of children were chronically absent in 2021-22
• In 2022, 85% of Black students and 78% of Latino students were not at 4th grade reading proficiency
• 1% of English-language learners were at or above 8th grade math proficiency in 2022.?

Terry Brooks, the executive director of KYA, said kids need enough food, good sleep, a reliable and safe way to get to school, and other supports like mental health services and tutoring to meet educational goals.?

“To be clear, kids are more than their test scores,” Brooks said. “But these scores give us the tools to understand the realities of our classrooms and a roadmap around imaginative reforms and targeted interventions. Innovation in classroom rhythms, school culture and community collaboratives are key to ensuring children meet their milestones, as is recruiting and retaining a strong K-12 and early childhood education workforce.”

Chang with KDE said that the ongoing educator shortage can lead students to feel disconnected from school. If they cannot rely on having a consistent teacher, she said, they may feel less obliged to show up.?

Brooks also called on legislators to “reclaim that legacy” of putting public education first in Frankfort and find common ground on education policy.?

“We need to move from where we are – when seemingly public education is the most politicized and divisive policy issue in Frankfort – and? reclaim the ethos of Kentuckians joining together when it comes to K-12 classrooms,” he said. “That kind of common ground agenda is essential for our children and just as critical in building a strong workforce and economy for the future. That means resources for sure, but it also means engagement by us all and a fundamental restructuring of how we do ‘school’ in Kentucky.”?

What are child welfare advocates seeing throughout the state??

Olivia Raley, a social worker embedded with the Bardstown Police Department, says COVID-19 “set a lot of families and kiddos back” in their social skills and interpersonal relationships.?

“That isolation period of a year or two was very detrimental to kids’ prefrontal cortex … not developing on track, as it should,” Raley said.?

She and her 80-pound sidekick, a certified therapy Siberian Husky named Maverick, help kids who need to report assault feel more comfortable. Maverick, 4, also escorts children in the courtroom when they need extra emotional support. She said having Maverick helps break through defenses easier.?

“I’m a woman, I have a dog,” she said. “We don’t have that initial barrier sometimes where some kiddos are afraid of law enforcement or they’ve been involved in the system so many times.”?

In her work, she’s seeing more and more children disconnected from school and community. During the worst of the pandemic, all these children had to do was sit and look at a screen. Now, she said, they’re reluctant to leave their homes.?

“If kiddos come from a complex trauma-associated family, that’s all they have,” she said. “And they don’t have the school ally, they don’t have gym, they don’t have all these extra curricular activities (where) they could blossom.”

The pandemic further isolated students who lacked internet access, which Raley said became part of their “hierarchy of needs.” If children didn’t have the ability to participate in remote learning, they fell behind.? This makes it more difficult to catch up in person — both educationally and socially.??

This period of time also allowed abused kids to “slip through the cracks,” Raley said.?

Separated by a screen or less, school staff couldn’t see if a child had a bruise or other indicators of mistreatment.?

Additionally, if a child learns, during their formative years, that the outside world is a dangerous place, they may not want to report abuse happening in the home or even go to class surrounded by their peers, Raley said.?

“Because of COVID, a lot of kids were missed,” Raley said. “They’ve been taught that the outside world is scary. Now they have this. And so there are a lot of kiddos that are suffering, emotionally, physically, because of COVID.”?

Where are the parents in this?

Parents play a part in making sure kids are in school, Chang with KDE said. Parental and familial apathy is emerging as a concern, she said.?

During the early years of the pandemic, “parents got an inside view into the instruction and seeing so many of the assignments that could get completed through Google Classroom or … their Chromebook devices,” Chang said. “So they can see ‘oh, well they can just complete this at home,’ thinking … it’s not a big deal if you miss.”?

At other times, a parent keeps a child out of school out of concern for their health, Weeter said.?

“Even before the pandemic, there was a lot of conversation about how some students … wouldn’t show up at school because … it was a bad air quality day,” she said. “And if they didn’t have a school nurse that could give them an inhaler … their parent might keep them home … for health reasons.”?

Not every school district has a nurse, state data obtained by the Lantern shows.?

Additionally, parents’ mental health issues and substance use “can be, absolutely, contributing to absenteeism,” Chang said.?

That’s because if parents are dealing with addictions or other distractions, they’re not monitoring their children, social workers explained. This means no one is making sure those kids get to school.?

Substance use making for ‘very scary time for kids’?

Access to deadly drugs, too, make it “a very, very scary time for kids,” Raley said. The 27-year-old already knows several people from her high school graduating class who died after overdosing.?

In her social work, too, she sees a lot of substance use among youth.?

“Substance use disorder can kill you and kids see that. A lot of kids have lost so many relatives, so many friends, to substance use disorder. And they don’t have a way to tell anybody or to reach out or because they are in this isolated mode right now because of COVID,” she said.?

And yet kids who experiment with substances are exposed to dangerous combinations, she said. The 2023 Drug Overdose Fatality Report shows that in 2023, 92 Kentuckians between the ages of 15 and 24 died from an overdose.

Nine children — between the ages of 0 and 4 — died from overdoses. Between 0 and 5 children between the ages of 5 and 14 met the same fate.??

“Party drugs aren’t a thing anymore — it’s moved on to heroin, fentanyl. High schoolers right now are at a very high risk for overdoses because of how many drugs are cut with fentanyl nowadays,” Raley said. “Narcan is a huge push right now – to make sure it’s in schools, it’s in homes right now.”?

Exposure to substance use disorders is an adverse childhood experience (ACE), which? are traumas minors live through that have far-reaching impacts on adulthood. Survivors are more likely to have chronic health conditions including cancer, diabetes and heart disease. They’re also at higher risk of experience poverty, having pregnancy problems and suffering from stress. Some even go on to perpetuate ACEs, feeding a reciprocating spiral of illness and violence.?

What do kids need right now??

The new KIDS COUNT report recommends these action steps for Kentucky to “get kids back on track:”?

• Make sure children arrive in the classroom ready to learn by ensuring? access to low- or no-cost meals, a reliable internet connection, a place to study, and time with? friends, teachers, and counselors.
• Deepen investments in school wrap-around services to support student success and family connection. Family Resource and Youth Service Centers, tutoring programs, mental health services, nutrition? programming, after school care, and other services support young learners and encourage parent engagement, which leads to better outcomes for kids.?
• Address chronic absence, so more students return to learn. Lawmakers should embrace positive approaches rather than criminalizing students or parents due to attendance challenges, because they may not understand the consequences of even a few days missed.?
• Expand access to intensive tutoring for students who are behind in their classes and missing academic? milestones.?

KDE is pushing the message to school districts and parents that “being in school is important,” Chang said, to counter absenteeism. Getting more kids in school desks starts with communication, she said, and making sure parents understand attendance policies.?

Staff are also “changing the lens of how we look at absenteeism from … a punitive approach … to a family engagement approach,” she said. “So, making sure that we can talk to families about supports and understanding the reasons. Because: every chronic absenteeism student has a story to tell.”??

A new middle school will rise in West Louisville on the site where Passport Health had once intended to build its headquarters. (Photo by Deborah Yetter/Kentucky Lantern)

A new middle school is planned for a long-vacant site in West Louisville where Passport Health, the state’s first Medicaid managed care company once hoped to build its corporate headquarters.

The news was celebrated at a press conference Friday by a host of state and local officials and representatives of the predominantly Black area of Louisville who have long lobbied for development of the 20-acre site at 18th and Broadway.

Molina Healthcare is donating the site it acquired in 2022 for about $7 million after it bought out Passport, which ceased construction of its headquarters amid financial problems brought on by changes in state Medicaid policies.

It will be first new middle school to be built in the predominantly Black community in 90 years, said school Superintendent Marty Pollio, who spoke at the event that also included Gov. Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg.

“We thought this would be a great place for a new middle school in West Louisville,” Pollio said. “I never in my wildest dreams thought they would donate this plot of land.”

Ryan Sadler, president of the company now called Passport by Molina HealthCare, said the decision comes after several years of meeting with community groups to determine the best use for the site.

“We are all here today for West Louisville,” he said.

Molina also plans to open a “one-stop” health and wellness center on the site to serve area residents, Sadler said.

Molina, a Fortune 500 company based in Long Beach, California, serves about 296,000 Kentucky Medicaid members, making it the second largest of the six managed care companies, or MCOs that oversee health services for Medicaid enrollees. It is the single largest Medicaid MCO for patients in West Louisville.

Pollio also included a surprise announcement: JCPS will consider locating a new headquarters on the West Broadway site, replacing its aging building in southeast Jefferson County, he said.

But the first step is to begin construction on what he described as a “state of the art” middle school as a home for the Dr. J. Blaine Hudson Middle School opened last year temporarily in a former elementary school. The new school is expected to open in 2026 and is named for Hudson, a longtime Louisville scholar, educator and Black activist who died in 2013.

Development of the site has been long sought by community leaders as a source of jobs and economic growth for the historically disadvantaged West Louisville.

Vacant for 20 years, it had been a symbol of promise for leaders in the largely Black community who were excited about Passport’s plan to locate its headquarters there. But they grew increasingly concerned after construction ceased amid Passport’s financial problems.

Passport had proposed its headquarters and a health and wellness site at 18th and Broadway but was forced to suspend construction in 2019 amid a revenue shortfall it blamed on Medicaid rate cuts enacted by the administration of former Gov. Matt Bevin.

Bevin, a Republican and critic of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, had proposed limiting benefits and restructured how his administration paid MCOs — which Passport, as the largest provider in Louisville, claimed unfairly cut its reimbursement for health claims.

The Bevin administration at the time denied the rate cuts were unfair to Passport.

Beshear, a Democrat who defeated Bevin in the 2019 governor’s race, in comments Friday alluded to the dispute.

“A little over six years ago, a previous governor stopped a $100 million construction of this building,” said Beshear, now in his second term. “I made you a promise that if I were elected, we would develop this property.”

Among those in the crowd was Rev. Charles Elliott, whose King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church is near the site and who once led a prayer delegation to Frankfort in support of the Passport project.

Beshear directly addressed Elliott, a prominent West Louisville pastor.

“Pastor Elliott, I remember looking at you and saying, ‘West Louisville deserves better,’ ” Beshear said as Elliott nodded.

Other speakers echoed enthusiasm over the plan for the site.

Jefferson County School Board chairman Corrie Shull called Friday “an awesome day to be alive.”

“We are incredibly grateful for this day,” added Hudson school principal Jeronda Majors.

Passport faced potential demise after it failed to get its contract renewed with the state in 2019, but was saved by the sale to Molina, which was a successful bidder for Kentucky’s Medicaid business.

Kentucky’s $1.5 billion-a-year Medicaid program covers about 900,000 low-income and disabled adults and about 600,000 children, with most of its money coming from the federal government.

Passport was established in 1997 as a non-profit company designed as a pilot project to try to control rising Medicaid costs in the Louisville area, a model officials hoped to take statewide. It was Kentucky’s first Medicaid MCO.

But efforts to create such entities in other parts of the state failed and the state in 2011 began awarding its Medicaid business to Passport and outside, for-profit companies.

Friday, with the rusting steel beams of the former Passport site in the background, officials were ready to look ahead.

“Congratulations to everyone involved,” Beshear said. “We look forward to cutting the ribbon on these amazing projects.”

This article and headline have been corrected. An earlier version said the project would be the first new middle school in Jefferson County in 90 years. It will be the first new middle school in West Louisville in 90 years.?

Kentucky State University cut the ribbon in August 2023 on a new South Campus Residence Hall. Rep. James Tipton spoke at the event. (KSU photo)

Kentucky State University officials told lawmakers that the institution has made improvements two years after the General Assembly increased oversight of the university amid budget shortfalls.?

The officials gave updates on the goals outlined by the 2022 legislation to the Interim Joint Committee on Education on Tuesday and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education on Wednesday.?

Under the law, the Council on Postsecondary Education was required to oversee a management improvement plan for the university and the General Assembly provided $23 million to the university to offset budget shortfalls.

In recent years, KSU has faced numerous controversies, such as misused funds under a previous administration and a warning from its accreditation body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), at the end of 2023.

Now, KSU has completed 53 of the 130 improvement plan objectives, or 41%. Of those remaining, 72 are in progress, three are pending approval and two have been removed. KSU named its new president, Koffi C. Akakpo, in May 2023.?

KSU, which is Kentucky’s only historically Black public university, is located in Frankfort.?

Tammi Dukes, the KSU Board of Regents chair, told the Interim Education Committee on Tuesday that the university has “the largest general fund in our history,” as well as a nearly 400% increase in asset preservation and $5 million from the legislature for the planning and design of a new health science education building on campus.?

“I would like to extend a heartfelt gratitude to the members of the committee and the entire General Assembly for your historic investment in the future of Kentucky State University for the upcoming biennium,” Dukes said.

Dukes elaborated on the university’s three primary goals while speaking to the subcommittee on Wednesday. Those are balancing its budget, ensuring robust internal controls and growing student enrollment.?

KSU spent most of the current fiscal year rebuilding its admissions office to meet enrollment goals. More than 2,500 applications have been created and 1,296 have been completed. As of this week, 1,206 students have been admitted to KSU, and 41% are from Kentucky.?

In 2023, KSU had a retention rate of 61%. Now, it is about 66% but is on track to be 75% once fall semester registration ends. As for its six-year graduation rate, KSU was at 28% last year and is up to 34% this year. Kentucky’s average six-year graduation rate in 2021-22 was 59.2%, according to a report CPE released in the fall 2023.?

Vickie Dunaway, KSU’s vice president of finance and administration, said the university is projecting a fund balance in its budget this year.?

“We have also tightened up our purse strings in regards to spending, and we hope to meet all our management improvement milestone plans within the next six months, if not before,” she said during the committee meeting on Tuesday.?

No money to build new nursing school raises old question: ‘When will it be Kentucky State’s time?’

KSU is also planning new capital projects and academic programs. In the 2024-26 state budget, the university will receive $5 million for the design of a new health science building. KSU has recently developed and established three academic colleges on campus and added new programs, such as engineering and cybersecurity.?

Lawmakers’ comments

Several lawmakers praised KSU’s progress. Lexington Democratic Sen. Reggie Thomas noted that KSU awarded its highest number of degrees during a commencement ceremony this spring. Alexandria Republican Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer said she “love(d) your momentum” after asking about recruitment of Kentucky students, particularly in Northern Kentucky.?

During both the committee meeting and the subcommittee meeting, Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, asked university officials about an update on how KSU was addressing issues raised by its accrediting agency. The warning was issued after “a determination of significant non-compliance with the Core Requirements or Standards of the Principles of Accreditation.”?

States urged by Biden administration to rectify underfunding of land-grant HBCUs

Dukes said when she started on the board, KSU was behind on its completing annual audits, but has since made progress on finishing them. The audits were one of the accreditation issues. Dukes added the university is working with an external audit firm before giving an update to SACSCOC in October.?

Tipton, who is a co-chair of the education committee, also asked about the “pretty much non-existent” relationship between the Board of Regents and the KSU Foundation. In April, the board announced in a letter to KSU alumni and stakeholders that it was “freezing” its relationship with the foundation, citing “a shadow of doubt on the transparency and stewardship” over donations made to the foundation.?

Earlier this year, the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a Franklin County Circuit Court decision that the KSU Foundation was a public agency and must comply with open records requests. The appellate court awarded The State Journal, Frankfort’s newspaper, summary judgment and attorneys’ fees in the lawsuit.?

The newspaper had originally filed an open records request for documentation about a previous university president’s travel in 2021, which the foundation denied.?

In response to Tipton, Dukes said the relationship was frozen in light of the lawsuit and because the board was also asking for financial information from the foundation and received “sporadic incomplete information over the last two years.”

Dukes said it was in KSU’s best interest to stop sending funds to the foundation until the lawsuit was ended against the newspaper, requested records were provided and a meeting was scheduled to revise and modify the agreement between the university and foundation.?

During the subcommittee meeting, Tipton also asked officials about unpaid student balances. Citing monthly reports from CPE, he said the university had outstanding student receivables of $23.8 million and called it a “big red flag.”?

Dunaway said the unpaid student balances were “a product of administrations prior to the president coming” to the university and, with board approval, KSU plans to write off $21 million as “bad debt.” Dunaway added that KSU is working to let returning students know of financial options, like loans and scholarships.?

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Bobby McCool, R-Van Lear, said at the end of Wednesday’s meeting that the officials had “done a fantastic job.”?

“You’ve got a long way to go, but every stride you’re making is in a positive direction,” he said.?

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new research laboratory at the University of Kentucky, May 29, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LEXINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke about the need to “improve the country’s industrial base” during a ribbon-cutting at the University of Kentucky for a new research laboratory that will work with the U.S. Army.?

McConnell, who graduated from the university’s law school in 1967, spoke on Wednesday about his support for increasing defense spending as Ukraine continues to defend itself from an invasion launched in February 2022 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In recent visits to his home state, the longtime Kentucky senator has emphasized his view that the U.S. should continue to aid Ukraine against Russia, an ally of China, and did so again Wednesday.?

He called the present “a very, very dangerous period” as Russia and China work together against democratic nations.?

“What we need to do is to rebuild our industrial base,” McConnell said, calling the laboratory an example of that. “We sort of took a holiday from history for a while, and our allies in Europe did as well, but we’re awake now.”?

McConnell congratulated the university on the Next Generation Additive Manufacturing Research Laboratory, which is part of UK’s Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing. Researchers in the lab will work to develop products and components for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and civilian use.?

Under a five-year, $50 million collaboration between UK, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, UK’s project will receive about $24.5 million from the DOD.?

S. Jawahir, the director of the institute as well as UK’s principal investigator and project director, said the new space for the lab will allow the university to educate both undergraduate and graduate students for the manufacturing workforce regionally, nationally and internationally.?

UK President Eli Capilouto said in a statement that the university is “deeply thankful for members of our Congress who continue their steadfast support, which ensures we advance Kentucky and fulfill our promise.”?

“As an institution driven by discovery and innovation, we are dedicated to advancing our community and the world,” Capilouto said. “Through this partnership, we can harness our top talents to turn groundbreaking research into real-world solutions — achieving far more collectively than we ever could alone. As Kentucky’s institution, we are stronger and more effective when we collaborate in meaningful ways.”?

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, McConnell did not take questions from the media.?

On Tuesday, McConnell was in Ashland to visit Pathways Journey House, a residential transitional facility for women, as well as speak to the Northeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.?

Earlier this year, McConnell announced he planned to step down as Republican leader of the Senate in November. He plans to serve the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2027.

The campus of the University of Kentucky, where trustees are set to give final consideration to controversial internal governance changes on Friday. (Photo by Mark Cornelison | UK Photo)

The University of Kentucky on Thursday will conduct a “full-scale active aggressor crisis exercise” from 8 a.m. until the afternoon.?

“If you see large numbers of emergency response teams on campus, including police, fire and EMS, do not be alarmed,” says a UK release, “this is only a drill.”

The training provides an opportunity for first responders to run drills they cannot run while classes are in session at the Lexington campus, says the release. The UK Police Department will be working with personnel from UK HealthCare, UK Public Relations and the UK Emergency Operations Center to practice coordinating a response with internal and external stakeholders in the event of an active aggressor situation. Local and state law enforcement will participate as well.

This drill is taking place in partnership with Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, which specializes in emergency management and preparedness training.

Tiffany Combs, an instructional coach in Perry County Public Schools, said she became the first person in her family to earn a college degree, thanks to motivation from one of her middle school teachers.?(Screenshot)

Fresh off Kentucky’s primary election, opponents are launching a campaign against a constitutional amendment that will go before voters in November and would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

In the first of a series of “kickoffs” scheduled across the state, opponents of Amendment 2 gathered Thursday at East Perry Elementary School in Hazard. They argued the amendment’s passage would mean fewer dollars for Kentucky’s public schools, lead to fewer resources for students and exacerbate the statewide teacher shortage — particularly in rural communities.

“The Kentucky Constitution is the last line of defense that is protecting us from unaccountable and inequitable voucher schemes that would plague our state and devastate our public schools,” said Jody Maggard, Perry County Public Schools’ chief financial officer.?

Maggard said that if Amendment 2 passed, public schools would have to “do more with less.”?

Thursday’s event was organized by Protect Our Schools KY, which is a coalition of public education advocates and organizations aimed at defeating what was repeatedly dubbed “the voucher amendment” by speakers. The political issue committee is comprised of the Council for Better Education, Jefferson County Teachers’ Association, Kentucky Education Association, Fairness, the Kentucky Student Voice Team and the Kentucky Parent Teacher Association. The event was livestreamed on Facebook.?

Misgivings among some rural Republican lawmakers

Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved putting the constitutional amendment to a vote this November. Members of GOP leadership often argued that approving the amendment would allow parents to have greater choice over their children’s schooling and modernize Kentucky’s education system.?

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, who is not seeking reelection, previously said he will be “very vocal” in trying to convince Kentucky voters to pass Amendment 2. After this year’s legislative session ended, he said in a press conference that the amendment “has a very good chance to pass but I’m also not naive.” He added that a lot of dollars will be spent trying to defeat the measure.

Nevertheless, some rural Republican lawmakers appeared hesitant to support the amendment due to the possibility of leaving existing public schools with a smaller pot of funding. During floor debate, Eastern Kentucky Rep. Chris Fugate, of Chavies, said he was voting against the amendment because school buildings within his district had not been restored since devastating floods slammed Eastern Kentucky and added they likely would never be rebuilt without funding from the General Assembly. Perry County is in Fugate’s district.?

‘Heartbeat of our communities’

Some speakers on Thursday recalled the effects those floods and their aftermath had on schools within the region. Maggard said East Perry Elementary was a distribution site for the community to receive items like food, clothing, cleaning supplies and more. The elementary school enrolls about 700 students in preschool through eighth grade.?

“Our public schools served as the heartbeat of our communities during the flood relief effort. We here in Perry County, and I know in other areas of the region, took that literally,” he said. “From providing a high quality education to every student that walks in the doors, to being a lifeline to kids who may need support throughout the year, to many times providing the basic needs of those in our community when they need it the most, our public schools and public education serve a vital purpose for our commonwealth and they bring us all together.”?

Sawyer Noe, a recent graduate of Knott County High School, called public schools “the last remaining equalizer in society.” Noe, who worked on flood relief in the region, said public schools were not just recovery hubs at the time, but became “the heart of a community.”?

“For so many students in a wildly underserved, culturally-isolated, infamously-impoverished region such as Appalachia, public schools are the single greatest catalyst for success and for so many — far too many — the only one,” Noe said.?

While the governor cannot veto constitutional amendments, Gov. Andy Beshear has been leading Democratic opposition to Amendment 2. During his 2023 reelection campaign, Beshear often pressed his Republican opponent, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, about support of school vouchers.?

Democratic legislative leaders have also signaled resistance to passing the amendment. After lawmakers adjourned in Frankfort, Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, of Lexington, predicted the amendment will fail, adding that Democrats must “respond loud and clear in November that public taxpayer dollars do not belong in private schools.”?

The proposed amendment, which was known in the General Assembly as House Bill 2, is the Republican supermajority’s answer to courts striking down charter school legislation while citing the Kentucky Constitution’s provision for funding “common schools,” or public schools. Currently, the Kentucky Constitution bars using tax dollars to fund any but the state’s “common schools.”?

Tiffany Combs, who is an instructional coach in Perry County Public Schools, said she became the first person in her family to earn a college degree, thanks to motivation from one of her middle school teachers.?

“Public schools are more than just an education for most students,” she said. “It’s a lifeline — just like it was for me.”?

Gary Humble, founder of conservative advocacy group Tennessee Stands, has emerged as a strong opponent of Gov. Bill Lee’s plan to enact universal school vouchers. (Screenshot from Tennessee Stands video)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Republican leaders — predicting passage of a private-school voucher bill in 2025 — will have to outflank conservative groups as well as opponents such as the Tennessee Education Association.

Tennessee Stands, a far right advocacy group run by Gary Humble of Franklin, balked at the governor’s voucher plan during this year’s session and plans to continue fighting it in 2025. Likewise, the Tennessee Firearms Association run by John Harris is against the governor’s proposal, which in its second year would provide $7,000 each for every student in the state to enroll in a participating private school, possibly costing $800 million.

“Definitely we’ll be prepared to oppose … and when I’m speaking (at events), I’m in strong opposition to vouchers. I know this isn’t going to go away, so I’m quite confident this will be the talk of the session leading into 2025 and on and on until they get something done,” Humble said this week.

Accused this year of aligning with the Tennessee Education Association, Humble noted he isn’t siding with the teachers’ union but is “fundamentally” opposed to putting tax dollars into private education.

State Rep. Scott Cepicky tried to massage the House version of the voucher bill late in the 2024 session to satisfy homeschool parents and remove them from the bill. If a final bill had surfaced, it likely would have exempted homeschoolers, which Humble said he supports.

He pointed out education and teaching regulations are “bound to follow” into private education and homeschools if state money is shifted to those schools, because “strings are always attached to tax dollars.”

Humble’s stance puts him in direct conflict with Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who said he is “aligned” with the governor on private-school vouchers. Johnson narrowly defeated Humble in the 2022 election, and they are expected to clash again.

Harris, whose group is considered more of a gadfly than a power broker in the General Assembly, nevertheless, caught some people’s attention with a Facebook post saying the government has a role to play in public schools but not in private education.

The post claims the solution for improving public education is not to shift tax dollars to allow parents to enroll their children in private schools, calling such a move an “abdication of the legislator’s duty and stewardship.” Further, he said private-school vouchers would open the door to allow Islamic extremists and Chinese interests to fund private schools.

“Truly conservative legislators would not abdicate the duty to make sure that the public school system is operating with excellent [sic] and efficiency,” Harris’ post said.

He added that lawmakers who are backing the governor’s proposal instead of trying to repair the public school system are “just evidence of legislators who perhaps do not need to be legislators.”

With elections looming this fall, pro-voucher groups are expected to flood the field with funds to boost the chances of Lee’s plan passing in the 114th General Assembly.

Lawmakers were caught between their allegiance to local school boards that are often the largest employers in their districts and the threat of dark money groups that will back election opponents this year.

TEA President Tanya Coats argued that the Legislature should spend $7,000 more per student in public schools to move Tennessee out of the nation’s bottom 10 for investment.

“The only choices this program would provide are the choices for private schools to profit off Tennessee taxpayers and cherry-pick the students they want to educate,” Coats said in an association statement.

Lee acknowledged he will talk to legislative candidates this summer and let them know about the proposal’s importance to provide parents with “school choice.”

The governor said immediately after the Legislature adjourned sine die that it usually takes more than one session to pass bills on “big issues” and noted he feels “certain” the plan will advance in 2025.

Lawmakers approved $144 million for the so-called “education freedom” bill, even though the measure itself didn’t advance. Lee called that funding move “significant” and said, “That shows a clear intent that we lead in this concept and we expect it to happen next year.”

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who has been in the Legislature for some 45 years, pointed out when former Gov. Lamar Alexander passed his Better Schools plan in the 1980s, it took two sessions.

“It’s an important bill, and I think we can get there,” McNally said.

Lee’s proposal, which he introduced to great fanfare in late November 2023 with the help of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, morphed into three bills: one from his office and two widely disparate measures from the Senate and House.

The House bill contained items designed to entice approval from teachers and rural lawmakers such as funds to reduce insurance premiums and pay for school construction projects. It would have cost up to $400 million.

Senators and House members hit an impasse, though, on items such as reduced standardized testing and a proposal to allow students to transfer across public school district lines. Lawmakers negotiated until mid-April before Lee declared the matter dead for the year.

“We got very close. We moved forward on major initiatives, but it was an inability to close the gap in the final days,” Lee said.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who opposed the governor’s Education Savings Account program in 2019 but backed this measure, said all the groups involved in talks, including TEA, school boards and superintendents, knew the items that would be in the 2024 bill, including the enticements.

“That does not mean it’s next year’s bill, and they understand that. That’s the consequences of it not happening this year,” Sexton said.

This story is republished from the Tennessee Lookout, a sister publication of the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Feelings of hopelessness and sadness have risen among teens since the pandemic. (Vector illustration)

This story mentions suicide. ?If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

LOUISVILLE — Anthem Medicaid announced Wednesday it has launched a free digital mental wellness course, which is available to 1,512 students in 17 Kentucky schools.?

The announcement comes during Mental Health Awareness month and as more adolescents, especially girls, report depressive symptoms.

Called “Understanding Mental Wellness,” the interactive program is for students in grades eight to 10. According to EVERFI from Blackbaud, which designed the course, it contains six lessons, each 15 minutes long.?

These are the schools that received the course:

• Clay County Middle School
• Daviess County High School
• Estill County High School
• Grant County Middle School
• Graves County High School
• Grayson County Middle School
• Hazard Middle School
• Henderson County High School
• James E. Bazzell Middle School
• Jenkins Independent School
• Lewis County Central Elementary School
• Marion County High School
• Murray Middle School
• Ohio County Middle School
• Owensboro Middle School
• Russell High School
• Webster County High School

The course, Anthem says, exposes students “to the experiences of others in order to develop awareness and empathy, reduce stigma, and provide facts on the prevalence and symptoms of mental health conditions.”??

Students then “explore their own mental health, identify challenges they may face, and develop concrete strategies for managing those challenges while increasing their awareness of resources and empowering them with the knowledge, skills, and language necessary to identify and support a peer in need or at risk.”?

Online previews of the course show a tour of mental health through the program, starting with a lesson on what mental health is and ending with the chance to create a personal wellness plan.?

Since the onset of COVID-19, mental health has worsened. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that sadness and hopelessness had increased from pre-pandemic levels, especially for teen girls. In 2017, 41% of female high school students and 21% of male high school students felt sad or hopeless. By 2021, those statistics were at 57% and 29%, respectively.?

“Young people need resources and education from trusted sources to protect their mental health,” Leon Lamoreaux, market president for Anthem Medicaid, said in a statement.?

The Understanding Mental Wellness program “will help us reach students from all over the Commonwealth and equip them with tools and strategies that will make a positive difference in their lives for years to come,” Lamoreaux said.?

Tom Davidson, the CEO of EVERFI, said the goal in creating this program was to “(benefit) those who are impacted by mental health challenges, those who want to build and maintain positive mental health and those who have the opportunity to positively impact the mental health of a friend or peer.”

The Main Building at the University of Kentucky houses the president's office and those of other administrators. (Photo by Mark Cornelison | UK Photo)

LEXINGTON — The University of Kentucky’s University Senate has approved a resolution of no confidence against President Eli Capilouto in response to his proposal to strip faculty of power over academic decisions at the university.?

The vote, which was 58-24 with 11 abstaining, was taken during a Monday afternoon meeting of the University Senate. The vote of no confidence does not affect Capilouto’s status as president of Kentucky’s flagship public university but instead expresses opposition to his leadership and proposals to change shared governance at UK.??

Shortly after the meeting adjourned, UK Board of Trustees Chair Britt Brockman said in a statement to campus that the board “unequivocally supports President Eli Capilouto.”?

The University Senate debated the measure for about an hour and heard from a mix of supporters and opponents of the resolution, as well as questions about how passing a vote of no confidence could affect the Senate’s relationship with university administration. Senators also briefly considered extending the resolution to show no confidence in the UK Board of Trustees, but ultimately tabled that motion.?

Under his proposals, Capilouto is seeking to change UK’s shared governance model by transitioning the University Senate into a faculty senate, reducing faculty to more of an advisory role.? It would also move some authority to colleges and academic programs over curriculum review and implementation.?

The UK Board of Trustees voted 19-1 in favor of the proposals during its April meeting. The board will give final approval in June.?

While the University Senate has been opposed to Capilouto’s proposals, the Staff Senate and Student Government Association (SGA) have passed resolutions supporting them. Both groups argue students and staff would have greater voice in university decision-making.?

The University Senate includes 94 full-time faculty members, SGA representatives, the president, the provost, college deans and more.?

‘This process has not been transparent’

Introducing the resolution, Scott Yost, director of Undergraduate Studies in? the College of Civil Engineering, saidMonday was a “heavy day” at the university and called the consideration of changing the shared governance model a “low point.”?

“We are here today 100% due to the president, not because of what the Senate is doing, but it’s 100% on the president and leadership at this university,” Yost told fellow senators.?

Molly Blasing, a professor of Russian Studies and member of the Senate Council, said that while she took “no pleasure in the fact that we’re debating this particular resolution,” she was “grateful for the opportunity to debate it.” Blasing added that the administration’s process regarding the changes to shared governance had not “inspired confidence in the future of these deliberations.”

“The process has not been transparent, and we have not been allowed to be partners in moving forward together,” Blasing said. “I think that had the president taken a different approach, we may have gotten to a very similar place in terms of revisions to the governance structures, but we would have all been facing forward together toward the future.”

John Hurley, a member of the SGA who will return to UK in the fall as a graduate student, expressed concern that the no-confidence vote was taking place after spring graduation ceremonies were held last week.?

“I have heard repeatedly today that this body wants to hear student voices more and more,” Hurley said, adding that “the vast majority of students have gone home” while the debate on the no-confidence vote occurred.

Hurley added that students do not feel heard under the current governance structure.?

DeShana Collett, the chair of the University Senate, said in response to Hurley that the no-confidence resolution was distributed to all senators at the same time and the meeting date had been public for a year.?

Collett said at the end of the meeting, which is the last she will chair in her term as chair, that the Senate “can work towards being a collaborative partner” in future shared governance changes. She said leadership of the Senate will work on giving “deliberate feedback” on the proposals ahead of the June trustees meeting.?

“Hopefully, this is a move where the president is also ready to sit down with Senate and Senate Council and move in the right direction,” Collett said. “This was hard for everybody, I think, in this room. It was not an easy vote for anyone, but it was a necessary vote.”?

‘Our work is not done,’ says Capilouto

In his Monday statement, Brockman called Capilouto’s proposals the product of “months of inclusive dialogue” and said they would create “more avenues for greater involvement and collaboration among students, faculty and staff.”

“The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees overwhelmingly supports this process and President Capilouto’s leadership in making it happen,” Brockman said.?

In his own message to campus, Capilouto said Monday that UK has reached several milestones over the last decade under his leadership in student enrollment, graduation rates and expanding health care and research, but “??our work is not done. Our Board of Trustees has asked us to examine thoughtfully how we can find ways to do and be more for the state.”

Capilouto continued, saying that current governance rules “aren’t clear” and they “don’t position us to be responsive.” He echoed concerns that students and staff do not currently feel heard and said some faculty members have “told me that decisions about curriculum and other policy matters can be better made at the college and unit levels.”

“I know that some among our faculty are concerned about these revisions. I understand the concerns and respect those who have voiced them,” the president said. “Moving forward, my hope is that we will come together. We don’t have to all agree about the changes, but I hope we all agree that we must continue to move forward as a community.”?

The University Senate had previously passed a resolution saying it had “no confidence” that Capilouto’s proposals “are in the best long-term interests of the University or the Commonwealth.” Monday’s resolution is an escalation of its official opinion on the president.?

Nationwide, faculty senates are taking votes of no confidence in their university presidents. According to a Chronicle of Higher Education analysis in September 2023, more than 20 faculty governance boards and unions had passed resolutions of no confidence in that year.?

Last year, faculty at Bellarmine University, a private institution in Louisville, voted they had no confidence in the president.?

Kentucky public school teachers rallied at the Kentucky Capitol in April 2018 to protest proposed changes in their pensions. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

New reports highlighted by the Kentucky Education Association show that Kentucky educators’ salaries are losing ground to those in other states.?

According to the annual reports released by the National Education Association looking at 2022-23 numbers, Kentucky dropped from 40th to 41st nationally in average teacher salary at $56,296 compared with the national average of $69,544.?

Kentucky also dropped in starting teacher salary from 44th to 45th, with an average starting salary of $39,204. Nationally, average starting pay for teachers was $44,530

Kentucky’s pay for education support professionals in K-12 schools increased in the rankings one spot, from 48th to 47th, with an average earning of $27,053. ESPs include bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria workers and more.?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear had called on the legislature to fund an 11% raise for public school employees in the new state budget.?

The Republican-controlled legislature rejected Beshear’s plan for a mandated pay raise. Republican lawmakers said salary changes should instead flow through Kentucky’s Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) formula and be determined by local school boards and superintendents.?

In a statement about the salary rankings, KEA President Eddie Campbell said Kentucky educators “are not competitively compensated for educating our children, and KEA is deeply concerned about the general assembly’s lack of investment in Kentucky educators’ pay.” Campbell added that Kentucky school districts face a workforce shortage “nearly every day of the school year.”?

“It is a true shame that the legislature chose to squander this once in a generation opportunity to raise educator pay and move SEEK funding to meet the needs of a 21st century education,” Campbell said. “It’s short-sighted to not directly and meaningfully address educator pay at levels that would make Kentucky the envy of our neighboring—and competitor—states. Instead, surrounding states are devoting more and more resources to recruit and retain quality educators. It is disappointing that our elected representatives didn’t take the same opportunity.”?

KEA is calling on local school boards in Kentucky to use the increased dollars from the SEEK formula to “invest in our public school staff by meaningfully and permanently raising salaries and wages beginning next school year, or Kentucky will continue to fall behind.”?

Through the SEEK formula, Kentucky distributes state dollars to local school districts. Factors include transportation costs and number of special needs students as reported by districts.

Overall, the final budget passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly at the end of the 2024 session included an increase in the SEEK per-pupil base of 3% to $4,326 in the next fiscal year and then a 6% increase in fiscal year 2025-26, to $4,586.?

According to the NEA data, Kentucky ranked 33rd in the nation on its per student spending, with an average of $13,599.?

Robbie Fletcher, who will become Kentucky’s next education commissioner in July, told reporters earlier this week that he would stop advocating for raises for teachers if “we ever get to the point where we’re the top 10 in the nation.”?

Fletcher also said, “I’m very thankful for the investment that our legislators made already in our education system because it is an excellent education budget.”?

Fletcher said the SEEK formula should be reexamined — mainly the funding “discrepancy between property rich districts versus property poor districts.” He added that increasing the base amount of SEEK funding would “be beneficial for all schools.”?

“If you have a high property value, you don’t get as much money per student,” Fletcher said. “Whereas, you have a lower property value, you get a higher amount per student.”?

Fletcher added that the General Assembly did invest more money into Tier 1 of the SEEK formula. The threshold increased from 15% to 17.5%. That tier allows the state to give more funding to districts with less property wealth.

A high school classroom. (Getty Images)

Kentucky Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman is leading a new multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over recent rules aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination in K-12 schools.?

The department released the regulations last week, which include updates to Title IX protections for discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.” Two separate groups of Republican attorneys general filed similar lawsuits ahead of Tuesday. The Texas attorney general also has filed a lawsuit.

Coleman, who is leading the complaint with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, said in a statement that the Biden Administration’s new rules “would rip away 50 years of Title IX’s protections for women and put entire generations of young girls at risk.” He added that his office is joining the lawsuit to “lead this fight for our daughters, granddaughters, nieces and all the women of our Commonwealth.”?

“As Attorney General, it is my duty to protect the people of Kentucky. As a Dad, it is my duty to protect my daughters,” Coleman said. “Today, I do both.”?

Joining Kentucky and Tennessee in the lawsuit are attorneys general from Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Their complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, argues that the Department of Education “used rulemaking power to convert a law designed to equalize opportunities for both sexes into a far broader regime of its own making” with the new Title IX regulations. Established in 1972, Title IX was created to prevent “discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance,” according to the Department of Education.?

“Men who identify as women will, among other things, have the right to compete within programs and activities that Congress made available to women so they can fairly and fully pursue academic and athletic excellence — turning Title IX’s protections on their head,” the complaint says. “And anyone who expresses disagreement with this new status quo risks Title IX discipline for prohibited harassment.”?

In a statement about the release of the new Title IX rules, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said they “build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.” The regulations will become effective on Aug. 1, 2024.?

The updated rules also roll back changes made during the Trump administration that narrowly defined sexual harassment and directed schools to conduct live hearings, allowing those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers.

Kentucky lawmakers have tried to pass anti-transgender laws in recent years. Last year, the Republican-controlled General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 150, a sweeping law that included requiring local school boards to make policies keeping people from using bathrooms, locker rooms or showers that “are reserved for students of a different biological sex.”

Robbie Fletcher, the next Kentucky education commissioner, speaks to media at the Kentucky Department of Education on Monday. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT — As he begins his transition from county superintendent to Kentucky education commissioner, Robbie Fletcher says implementing his goals for the state’s public schools will rely on relationships and being present on campuses.?

Fletcher, who became the first commissioner to be confirmed by the Kentucky Senate earlier this month, will start at the Kentucky Department of Education on July 1. Now, he is the superintendent of Lawrence County Schools in Eastern Kentucky.?

Lawrence County has almost 2,270 students in six schools, according to 2023 school data from KDE. Later this year, Fletcher will oversee the education for more than 630,000 Kentucky students across 171 school districts, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, Kentucky School for the Blind and the 50 state operated area technology centers.

Fletcher told reporters at a Monday press conference that meeting “face-to-face” with people in their communities is important to him.?

“One of the things that I’ve learned in my career is regardless of the size of the district, there is one thing that matters most, and that’s relationships,” he said.?

Things will look different in Kentucky’s largest public school district — Jefferson County Public Schools with 164 schools in the Louisville Metro area — when compared to small, rural districts, such as Lyon County Schools in West Kentucky, which has three schools.?

Earlier Monday morning, Jefferson County Teachers Association President Brent McKim said he looked forward to working with Fletcher whom he had heard praised by other educators. JCTA has previously had quarterly meetings with education commissioners, and McKim said he hopes that continues.?

“I think if he engages with the leadership of our school district, with our teachers’ association, and listens to the community stakeholders in our urban setting, he’ll be able to identify our needs and our opportunities, and find ways that the state department of (education) can be a good partner,” McKim said.?

JCPS became a hot topic for lawmakers in Frankfort during the legislative session that ended earlier this month. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a House resolution to create a task force that would look at the governance of the school district, calling it “the General Assembly’s latest attempt to set the framework for the legislature to divide the Jefferson County Public Schools district.” The Republican-controlled General Assembly easily overrode the veto.?

Fletcher said he plans to work with Marty Pollio, the superintendent of JCPS and ask how KDE can assist the school district in the future.?

Of superintendents in general, Fletcher said he has a positive relationship with almost 150 of them across Kentucky, and has yet to meet the remaining few. When asked to name some of the statewide education groups he’s been in touch with so far, he highlighted his contact with the Kentucky Association of School Administrators and its Coalition to Sustain the Education Profession.?

As for getting support from current teachers, Fletcher plans to get information and data from them about Kentucky’s current education system and make decisions based on that feedback “because we want their input on how it makes our education system better.”?

Eddie Campbell, the president of the Kentucky Education Association, said in a statement to the Kentucky Lantern that he had offered his congratulations to Fletcher and added that the union is “committed to working with Commissioner Fletcher to improve the quality and effectiveness of public education for Kentucky’s students, educators, and communities.”?

Campbell added that he has worked with Fletcher previously on various committees and has “seen his commitment to students, educators, and public education in the Commonwealth.”?

“As commissioner, it is especially important to have a direct link and communication with the educators in our schools every day who are the beating heart of public education,” Campbell said. “To continue improving public education in Kentucky means understanding the issues and challenges that educators confront in our classrooms and provide them the ingredients they need to succeed.”?

Fletcher was the first education commissioner to be confirmed by the Senate after a new state law passed in 2023. He will succeed former Education Commissioner Jason Glass, who left the role in September amid tensions with Republicans in the General Assembly.?

At the time, Glass did not want to be part of implementing a law that limited how schools can teach about human sexuality and gender identity and freed adult staff to misgender students.

When asked if he thought teachers should respect trans students’ pronouns, Fletcher said he respected a teacher working with a parent and student on that topic.?

“Whether I agree with it or not, that’s irrelevant, but I try to make sure the student feels comfortable in my classroom,” he said. “Now, I’m going to love them, regardless of what pronoun that they use. So to me, the pronoun is not nearly as important as am I showing that student respect and love?”

McKim said the biggest challenge facing Fletcher will be “finding common ground between” the Kentucky Board of Education, which is made up of Beshear appointments, and the General Assembly.?

Fletcher said Beshear has “been very kind to me,” and added that the governor had appointed him to serve on the Appalachia Regional Advisory Committee. Fletcher also praised his Senate confirmation process. Appearing before Senators gave him a chance to speak with them before stepping into the commissioner role.?

“Having those open conversations, those open relationships, makes it a lot better to be able to have those conversations,” Fletcher said.

President Eli Capilouto speaks to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

LEXINGTON — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted Friday in favor of changing how the institution is governed, paving the way for faculty to lose decision-making power over academic decisions.

The 19-1 vote in favor of a proposal from President Eli Capilouto means Kentucky’s flagship university will transition its University Senate — a group made up of faculty, staff and student representatives — into a faculty senate. Capilouto has called the changes a way to streamline UK’s governance processes.

This vote came despite a failed attempt by faculty trustee Hollie Swanson to table the proposal. No one seconded her motion, and it therefore failed without reaching a vote.?

The board will take feedback from various campus stakeholders before giving final review to the proposal at its June meeting. Under the new shared governance model, faculty, staff and student representatives would largely have an advisory role. Now, the University Senate “determines broad academic policies” for UK.?

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, the University Senate passed a resolution saying the Senate had “no confidence” that Capilouto’s proposals “are in the best long-term interests of the University or the Commonwealth.” However, the Student Government Association and the Staff Senate passed their own resolutions backing the changes.?

Capilouto told the board Friday that staff members sometimes “feel like second class citizens.” They are “often made to feel less than … faculty,” he said.?

“It shouldn’t be that way, particularly when so many of our people have so much to offer,” he said. “We must do better; we can do better.”?

Several people who spoke against his proposal specifically questioned the timing of the change.?

Capilouto addressed that, saying: “Why not now? I believe this is the right time to make a sustainable change.”?

“I know change is uncomfortable,” Capilouto said. “It’s why we call it growing pains.”?

Who testified for and against the proposal??

During Friday’s trustees meeting, more than a dozen people came forward to speak both in favor and against the move. Fourteen requested to speak, and all were approved. An additional two people requested to speak after the deadline passed, a UK spokesman said.?

The audience for the board meeting was packed into the Harris ballroom in UK’s Gatton Student Center. An estimated 190 were in attendance.??

Karen Petrone, a College of Arts professor, said the move “threatens the national reputation” UK holds. She slammed the final details of the proposal becoming public a week before the vote and said the board is “rushing … radical change” that is “undemocratic” and a “catastrophic mistake.”?

“Acceleration without clear direction can lead to serious and costly missteps,” said Petrone.? What’s being proposed, she said, is “the opposite of shared governance.”?

“Why,” she asked, “is the university in such a rush?”?

Petrone also said she’s “very glad to see the gesture toward inclusion of all parts of the university in deliberations of important matters.”?

But, she said, the “gesture is an empty one.”

“Too much power is concentrated in the hands of the president,” she said. “A future leader could abuse the power.”??

Ben Braun, a math professor and member of the United Campus Workers, said the move will “weaken the bonds of collaboration and engagement that have allowed UK to flourish and thrive.” It will also, he said, “cause lasting harm, both of the reputation and the quality of our university.”?

Lauren Cagle, a College of Arts associate professor, also criticized what she said was a “rushed” vote that left her “horrified.”?

Bob Grossman, a chemistry professor, said the move was “bad for UK” and “bad for Kentucky.” He further called the move a “power grab.”?

Several spoke in favor of the move, including Chipper Griffith. The professor and College of Medicine Dean said the move will “elevate the voices of students” as well as the voices of staff.?

Rudy Buchheit, the college of Engineering Dean, also spoke in favor.?

“The power of the faculty must be directed with great intentionality,” he said. It should not be “overly burdened” with “routine matters” or those of “narrow or local interest.”?

The board discussion

Trustee Swanson, the lone no vote Friday, called the proposal “ill-conceived, poorly justified” and “rushed.”?

“I asked my board members (if) the silencing the voices of paradigm shifters, creators, thought leaders and innovators is the best approach for shaping our future citizens of the Commonwealth? My answer is no.”?

Faculty trustee Hubie Ballard said it’s important for students and staff to have “appropriate input to all matters important to the university.”?

Going forward, said Ballard, it’s important that there is “more collaboration from all sides in terms of moving this forward so that everyone has an equal voice.”?

Chairman Britt Brockman praised the president’s proposal and the process of bringing it to the board.?

“The bottom line is that … too many members of our community, particularly students and staff and those at the local unit level, don’t feel as though they have a voice,” said Brockman. “They don’t see themselves as having a seat at the table and the decisions that are made about the university.”?

“We can’t turn a blind eye to what we’ve learned,” he said. “We can’t ignore what we have heard so many committed members of our community, students, staff, college leaders, and yes, many faculty.”?

UK President Eli Capilouto wants to change the university’s shared governance model, but faculty members are unhappy with the plan. (Stock photo/Getty Images)

LEXINGTON — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees is likely to take another step Friday that would change the course of who has the final say over academic programs at the university.?

President Eli Capilouto is proposing updates to the university’s shared governance model, arguing they would streamline decision-making processes over academic programs. The proposal would transition UK’s University Senate into a faculty senate, and give a largely advisory role to faculty, staff and student representatives.?

Currently, the University Senate is made up of 94 members and “determines broad academic policies” for UK, which is Kentucky’s flagship institution. Some faculty members who oppose Capilouto’s ideas fear they would limit the primacy faculty have over academic decisions, such as admission standards for students.?

In a letter to faculty published Tuesday, Capilouto said the proposed changes to UK’s Governing Regulations (GR) would streamline rules and regulations, as well as give more authority to colleges and academic programs?over curriculum review and implementation.?

The president is also proposing that the Board of Trustees have final say over baseline undergraduate admissions. Colleges and programs that want more selective criteria could continue college-based decisions. Graduate admissions would remain at the department, school and college levels.?

“Our current structure — and the guiding principles of our institution in the form of the GRs — don’t do that, now,” Capilouto said. “We need rules and structures for shared governance that help, not hinder, our progress.

“As difficult as change can be, it’s time to act.”

The proposal is on the agenda for Friday’s meeting for a first reading and vote by the board. The campus community may give feedback on the changes for another month after the board meeting. The trustees will give a final review at their June meeting.?

In a statement to the Kentucky Lantern, Capilouto said all of UK’s faculty, staff and students “have extremely valuable insights that can help us progress at a pace that keeps up with our changing world. However, not all faculty, staff and students across our expansive and evolving community feel heard, valued and respected — especially when it comes to the areas where they are the experts, the ones most affected, the implementers of our rules and regulations.

“Our students are why we are here; our staff make what we do possible. Our faculty’s innovation and creativity are what differentiate us from other places and help ensure our success in so many ways. But the structures and rules we have in place now are simply antithetical to the bedrock principles of shared governance,” he said. “We must do better, we must be better, and I believe we can achieve that together. Throughout my conversations with more than a thousand community members, it has become abundantly clear that all of us care deeply about this community and the way we accomplish our goals. I believe this is the right time to make a sustainable change. I believe we are the right community for this work.”

Faculty points to West Virginia University cuts

During its April 8 meeting, the University Senate voted in favor of a resolution saying the Senate “has no confidence that his (Capilouto’s) proposed changes are in the best long-term interests of the University or the Commonwealth.”

Sharon Yam, a professor of social theory and member of the United Campus Workers’ faculty organizing team, compared UK’s proposed regulations to recent changes at West Virginia University. There, more than 20 programs were cut and faculty said they were excluded from the decision process. The administration cited budgetary concerns.?

If the proposed changes are adopted at UK, Yam said faculty members will no longer be part of the final say regarding departments and programs shutting down.?

“It’s not just that the faculties are at risk of losing a job, right? But now we’re seeing WVU, there are students who are in the majors that are about to be shut down — they’re also left in the lurch,” she said.?

However, Board of Trustees Chairman Britt Brockman said the WVU situation is not comparable to UK. He said UK has a healthy budget, including a multimillion-dollar hospital system.?

“You can’t compare the two situations and it’s a nice argument for those against the proposal, as long as nobody digs into the facts, but then the facts tend to negate that argument quickly,” he said.?

University Senate offers counter proposal

During a February board meeting, trustees were presented with a collection of practices from other universities, which included public universities in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), like UK, as well as other institutions with similar research and undergraduate needs.?

“I think that it’s really apples and apples when you do that. We were an outlier. … We were really one of one,” he said. “We were the only ones not behaving in the same manner as the others, and so that got the attention of the board.”?

UK’s shared governance regulations should be “brought in line with the current best practices across the nation,” Brockman added. He said the current rules were reviewed by the Association of Governing Boards, a national organization that focuses on governance in higher education. The association said the direction that UK is heading toward “would put us in better alignment with best practices across the nation,” he said.?

In its resolution, the University Senate also approved its own counter proposal on updating the shared governance regulations, which include expanding the University Senate “to have a greater role for all stakeholders within the university: elected members from faculty, staff, students, and administrators.”?

“We are open to discussion of moving some aspects of educational policy currently residing in the Senate to the colleges, but the President’s proposal would destroy university coherence and eliminate the key mechanisms that keep us informed on the broader university climate, community, and curricula,” the resolution says.?

Doug Michael, chair-elect of the University Senate, said Capilouto’s changes would only give the faculty senate advisory authority by reporting to the provost.?

“??We would have no direct authority to do anything — only to suggest to him things which we think would be prudent — and there’s no way we would know about them, because there’s no required permission of any course proposals or program changes to the Faculty Senate as it would be redesigned,” Michael said.?

The current workflow for a course or program proposal includes faculty reviews before it receives approval from the Senate and the registrar. New programs are approved by the trustees.?

When beginning its review of UK’s governance, Brockman said the board saw issues like decisions regarding classes being pushed up to the University Senate, rather than staying at the college or department level. The board also wanted to clarify that it has ultimate authority over the university.?

“The Board of Trustees has ultimate authority over all acts at this university, but that doesn’t mean that the Board of Trustees wants to get down in the weeds about every course that is proposed and core curriculums,” Brockman said. “We have the right to do so. We have the right to have the ultimate authority on that act.”?

Michael, who is a law professor at UK, said he does believe that changes could be made to the current model, but Capilouto’s proposal is coming at “rocket-speed fast.” He added that he has not heard if a program has been delayed due to a Senate rule or committee.?

“I would love it to be more agile, as the president says,” he said. “I’m sure it could be improved, but to do what he’s done and throw it out root and branch is just not called for based on any evidence that I’ve seen, or that he’s seen to be perfectly honest.”?

Yam agreed that the proposed changes are happening at “such a rapid pace.” She added that faculty members across academic programs are concerned about the proposed changes. As things are now, faculty are included in the process as educators over their areas of expertise, including in admission standards.?

Staff and students offer support

The issue of UK’s governing regulations came to the board’s attention during a 2021 retreat, Brockman said. At the time, the board was reviewing the university’s strategic plan. Later, the board asked Capilouto for a proposal.?

“I would argue that the way that the president has handled it — with all of the meetings he’s had with all the constituent groups — has been a pretty open, transparent process,” Brockman said. “I’m very happy with the process, and I do not believe that this process has been in any way shape or form anything other than appropriate.”

The two other groups involved in shared governance — staff and students — have signaled support for Capilouto’s proposal. The Student Government Association recently approved a resolution saying its senators “??have not been effectively heard in University Senate and Senate Council.”?

When asked about the resolution, Michael said he was surprised that the student representatives “think they have been ignored and disregarded.” Senate rules were written to provide protections for students, he added.?

“To be perfectly honest, I think if the students believe that this is providing them more voice, they’ve been co-opted to think that direct access is the same thing as effective access,” he said.

However, another government body on campus also agrees some voices are not heard in decision making now. On Wednesday, UK’s Staff Senate approved a resolution that said the UK’s current shared governance regulation “fails to establish the Staff Senate’s formal voice in decisions regarding the governance of the University.”?

The Staff Senate’s resolution also says the group “strongly supports the president’s commitment to equitable participation in shared governance and the importance of active staff involvement in these processes.” Additionally, the Staff Senate is supportive of a shared governance model for students, staff and faculty that facilitates “well-informed decision-making within their respective domains of primacy.”?

Brockman pointed to part of Capilouto’s proposal, which includes a President’s Council made up of 12 members who are students, faculty and staff members, would provide feedback to the president about various issues, like the university’s budget, priorities and more. He said the Association of Governing Boards said such a council was in line with governance at other universities.?

“Not only is it not unusual, it’s the most usual way to handle this,” he said.?

If Capilouto’s changes are implemented, Michael predicts that colleges will become siloed as they will not speak to each other, but to the provost. The faculty senate would not be as effective as the University Senate. UK’s president will also hear from administration officials who will contact faculty, students and staff, and not the groups directly.?

“There won’t be any controls,” Michael said. “There won’t be any other voices. He will hear what he wants. This is how businesses fail. The CEO gets told what he wants to hear.”

Michael said Friday he will tell the board he would like to see them return the proposal back to Capilouto and ask him to bring a different idea with the approval of existing faculty, staff and student organizations.?

“It’s nothing like shared governance, there’s nothing shared about it.”

Brockman said he thinks it’s likely the board will approve the proposal after a first reading Friday, but noted that it’s “not over ‘til the vote’s taken.”?

“I’ve seen absolutely nothing that would convince me, and I would think most of the board members, that this is anything other than appropriate,” he said.?

The pool at the University of Kentucky's Lancaster Aquatic Center. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

The first red flag was raised as soon as Lars Jorgensen was hired.

On June 20, 2012, within hours of news breaking that Jorgensen had joined the University of Kentucky swimming program as an associate head coach, a former assistant coach at the University of Toledo messaged Kentucky head coach Gary Conelly and athletic director Mitch Barnhart with urgent, unambiguous warnings about their new employee.

“I coached at Toledo for a year then had to run away as fast as I could,” Mark Howard wrote, according to court filings. “While there, a former Toledo swimmer made it known to me about a sexual relationship she had with Lars before she had graduated. I confronted Lars about it, and made it very clear that he stay away from any Toledo swimmers for as long as he was alive. Had I known he was interviewing with Kentucky I certainly would have called. I wish you the best and hope he does not bring down your University. This is no joke at all and I cannot stomach the fact that he will be coaching women again.”

That Howard’s message was received was confirmed by Conelly’s concerned response the following day and is included in court filings, but the apparent failure to look further or to appreciate the institutional peril posed by an alleged sexual predator has exposed the university to significant liability and could carry career-threatening consequences for some of its administrators.

A lawsuit filed April 12 by a pair of former UK swimmers and coaches accuses Jorgensen of recurring sexual abuse and repeated rape and the university of “complicity and deliberate indifference” to “credible reports” of Jorgensen’s inappropriate sexual relationships and sexual assaults.

It accuses Barnhart, the UK athletic director, of intentionally concealing serious allegations against Jorgensen; Conelly, the former head coach, of circumventing university policy for reporting complaints of sexual harassment and assault, and UK’s Title IX office of discouraging complaints and failing to take appropriate action in response to Jorgensen’s alleged misdeeds.

Jorgensen spent 11 years at UK, the last 10 as the head coach of its swimming and diving program, before resigning last June after being suspended, ostensibly for NCAA infractions related to excessive time demands on athletes. UK spokeswoman Kristi Willett told Kentucky Lantern both the suspension and Jorgensen’s resignation were prompted by? compliance issues and that “many” of the sexual abuse claims in the lawsuit were not previously known to the university.

Confronted with the lawsuit’s allegations in an interview with The Athletic, Jorgensen insisted “none of that is true.” His attorney, Greg Anderson, told the Lexington Herald-Leader the case has nothing to do with Jorgensen’s private life and is, instead, a reflection “of NCAA woke philosophy” and Jorgensen’s support of Riley Gaines, a former UK swimmer and vocal opponent of trans women competing in women’s sports.

Briggs Alexander, one of the plaintiffs in the case, is a former team captain and coach who competed as Bridgette Alexander at UK from 2014-18, and has since transitioned to a transgender man. The other plaintiff, another former UK swimmer and coach, is identified in the suit as Jane Doe.

Alexander and a third swimmer, identified as Jane Doe 2, allege being raped by Jorgensen — Jane Doe 2 following a 2013 Christmas party, Alexander on four occasions from 2019 through 2021. The other Jane Doe reported being sexually assaulted by the coach.

“He didn’t rape anybody,” Anderson said, according to the Herald-Leader. “He never assaulted anyone. He never battered anyone. He didn’t defame anyone. He never mistreated anyone. He drove his swimmers to be the best that they could. And the facts here do not add up in any way, shape or form.”

Rachael Denhollander, a Louisville-based attorney best known for being the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of sexual abuse in a case that has resulted in nearly $1 billion in settlements, has been working with the plaintiffs for nearly a year. She’s not the lead attorney but would share in a potential settlement. In an interview, she described Anderson’s assertions as “an absurdity in the highest degree.”

“Warnings about Lars’ predatory sexual behavior (were) received multiple times by UK for years prior to the controversy regarding (trans athletes competing in) women’s sports, with the first coming nearly a decade prior,” she told the Lantern, echoing information contained in the complaint. “All three survivors had disclosed their violent abuse to unconnected individuals prior to speaking publicly. Attempting to dismiss patterned rape allegations from multiple victims by alleging a woke conspiracy is absolute nonsense.”

Anderson did not immediately respond to interview requests left at his Jacksonville, Florida, law office. Efforts to reach Jorgensen and Conelly for comment were unsuccessful. Barnhart declined comment on the suit when approached last Sunday, citing the ongoing litigation.?

Willett said the university police department has been contacted about the allegations and “is in the process of assessing the information received.”

“We are distressed to hear the disturbing allegations of sexual assault and criminal behavior by a former University of Kentucky employee,” Willett said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “No one should be subject to the kind of abuse described in the civil lawsuit filed Friday. . .

“Our top priority is the health and safety of our students and employees. We have no tolerance for harm, harassment or abuse.”

Denhollander has difficulty reconciling those professed priorities with the issues raised by the plaintiffs or the warnings communicated from other campuses during Jorgensen’s tenure.

“Words cost nothing,” she said. “Actions tell everything.”

“I thought I could trust them,” Alexander said during a Zoom press conference on Wednesday. “I disclosed my abuse and thought it was being taken care of. And months went by and I never heard anything back. So I reached out. I was just repeatedly discouraged and vigorously discouraged to not come forward and not publish this reporting. That’s what’s hurting me the most at this moment.

“Title IX offices are there to protect student-athletes. When our coaches aren’t protecting us in the situation (Jorgensen) wasn’t, we should have been able to trust the Title IX office and none of us could.”

The lawsuit alleges that UK’s Title IX office received warnings about Jorgensen in 2015 or 2016 and that it was alerted in August 2019 to two complaints against him. Alexander contacted UK’s Title IX office in May 2023, the lawsuit says, a year after resigning as assistant coach and the month before Jorgensen resigned.

In response to a request to interview UK’s Title IX staff members and a subsequent list of submitted questions, Willett said “many of the questions you are asking are questions that the University will answer when it responds to the lawsuit at the appropriate time.”??

In the interview, Denhollander said she is aware of four instances — also alleged in the lawsuit — during Jorgensen’s first two years on the job in which UK was either directly alerted to his alleged? improprieties or could have learned of the coach’s sexual relationship with a swimmer he supervised at Toledo through publicity surrounding a 2014 wrongful termination case involving that school’s former softball coach, Tarrah Beyster.

“If you take sexual misconduct seriously, that’s something you’re going to look at and say, ‘This is something I need to take seriously,’ especially if you’ve heard it before,’” Denhollander said.

“There were choices made to ignore red flags, to ignore outright warnings, to discourage survivors from reporting. There were breakdowns in the culture. There were breakdowns in the policies, in the structure of the organization.”

The pattern she perceives is all too familiar.

In blowing the whistle on Larry Nassar, Denhollander prompted scores of other victims to come forward at enormous expense to the institutions for which he had worked. Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million in settlements to Nassar’s victims; USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee another $380 million. According to multiple reports, the U.S. Department of Justice is in the final stages of an agreement that would pay another $100 million to victims for the FBI’s failures in investigating the case.

Additionally, Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon and the entire board of USA Gymnastics resigned under pressure. The price of negligence has been steep.

Since the Nassar settlements involved hundreds of individuals and the Kentucky case currently includes only two plaintiffs, the university’s potential costs are likely much lower. Still, Megan Bonnani, the lead attorney representing Alexander and Jane Doe, says, “We are convinced and have reason to believe that there are more victims and there are witnesses out there.” Jane Doe 2 is not a party to the suit.

University policy discourages but does not prohibit consensual sexual relationships between a supervisor and a subordinate, but requires those relationships be reported to superiors when one party is responsible for evaluating the performance of the other. “The existence of a power differential may restrict the less powerful individual’s freedom to participate willingly in the relationship,” says UK’s ethical principles and code of conduct.

“No records exist of Jorgensen reporting any consensual relationship at any time with people he supervised,” Willett said.

To the extent Jorgensen’s advances were non-consensual, criminal charges could result. That the plaintiffs had not shared their allegations with law enforcement before filing their civil action is consistent with national trends. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), roughly 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported. Of those, only 28 result in conviction and 25 in incarceration.

Going public has its perils, not least among them having to relive disturbing experiences.

“I read my own story and I can’t believe that that happened to me,” Briggs Alexander said. “And I think it’s really important that there are different outlets for people to go to and not just the police, because you never know what could happen to someone if something is reported to police. I didn’t know if I was going to be in danger or taken seriously.”

Alexander v. University of Kentucky

The Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort on Feb. 27, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — As the dust settled on the General Assembly’s 2024 session, Republican and Democratic lawmakers began gearing up for a fierce fight on a constitutional amendment to allow public dollars to go to private schools.

The amendment will be on the ballot this November.?

Putting the question to voters had been a GOP priority heading into the session. Democrats consistently opposed the idea in floor debates and committees.?

On Tuesday, both sides turned their attention to the amendment, previewing arguments Kentuckians will be hearing this election season.

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, who is not seeking reelection, said he plans to be “very vocal” on convincing Kentucky voters to pass the measure, which will be known as Amendment 2. In a press conference with other GOP Senate leaders, Thayer, of Georgetown, said the “school choice” amendment was among the Republican accomplishments he was most proud of this session, which ended Monday.?

“I think it has a very good chance to pass but I’m also not naive,” Thayer said. “There will be a lot of money spent to try to defeat it, but we think that there are going to be groups coming into Kentucky and groups from Kentucky who are going to be investing heavily in media and grassroots to pass Amendment 2 this fall.”?

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said he believed charter schools and public schools “can live together and actually thrive together.”

?The constitutional amendment, which was known as House Bill 2 during the legislative session, is the Republican supermajority’s answer to courts striking down charter school legislation in the past. The Kentucky Constitution bars using tax dollars to fund any but the state’s “common schools” (or public schools), and courts citing the Constitution have struck down the General Assembly’s attempts to steer tax dollars into private or charter schools.?

“I think it would answer the question once and for all, and I know that several people voted for the school choice amendment to settle that question: What do the people of Kentucky want?” Stivers said.?

Since it requires a ballot vote, the legislation for the constitutional amendment was not subject to a gubernatorial veto. Nevertheless, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has vowed to oppose the constitutional amendment — and leaders in the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) plan to follow suit.?

Democrats also held a press conference Tuesday to talk about the legislative session. KDP Chairman Colmon Elridge called Amendment 2 “shameful” and pointed to other recent GOP-backed amendments that failed at the polls, like a constitutional amendment to clarify that there is no right to an abortion in the Kentucky Constitution. Kentucky voters defeated that amendment in 2022.

Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson, of Lexington, said Democrats must “respond loud and clear in November that public taxpayer dollars do not belong in private schools.” She predicted the amendment will fail.?

“Public schools are the largest employer in most of our state’s counties and are a vital source of income for our families,” Stevenson said. “Draining them of funds would amount to financial catastrophe and create an unnecessary strain on local economies.”?

Amendment 2 will appear on ballots with another constitutional amendment that will likely drive Republicans to the polls —?a measure to clarify that noncitizens of the United States cannot vote in any local or state elections in Kentucky.

Kentucky Capitol (Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — A controversial rewriting of the Kentucky Open Records Act died in the Senate as the 2024 regular session ended Monday, but Republican leaders said lawmakers will revisit the issue during the interim before next year’s session.

An attempt to revive Republican legislation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in higher education also failed on the final day of this year’s session. Republican leaders said that effort also is likely to be renewed during the interim.

“This DEI issue is not going away,” Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer told reporters. “Most of us feel that there is an issue on our college campuses, but there just weren’t enough votes to move forward with the House version of the bill.”?

Because the session ended Monday, lawmakers would have been unable to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has voiced strong support for DEI initiatives and programs

“There was a question not of whether to do something for DEI, it was a question of what to do,” Senate Republican President Robert Stivers told reporters. “And between the realities of the timing and that the governor could control anything, members felt like it was best to wait and try to work through the process.”?

Open records

The Senate never took up House Bill 509, which open government advocates warned would add loopholes to the Kentucky Open Records Act by limiting searches for public records to only devices or accounts owned by a government agency.?

The bill also said public agencies who found employees violating the bill by using a personal cell phone or email account for official communications may discipline them, but it’s unclear if those records could be publicly disclosed. Additionally, the bill did not describe the consequences an agency may take to discipline violators.

Opponents said the bill would encourage public officials to conduct public business on personal devices to keep it secret.

Thayer said there “wasn’t any energy in the caucus to get it done” because the bill had several floor amendments attached to it.?

Beshear had voiced support for the bill’s changes to the open records law. He has argued that it would allow more records to be disclosed by requiring that public officials be furnished an agency email account that a government agency could easily search.??

Throughout the session, politicians in Frankfort have lauded HB 509 as necessary to protect public officials’ privacy but critics have noted the bill could prevent public records created on private devices from being disclosed. The legislation would not have required agencies to search for public records on personal devices.

Stivers, of Manchester, said he had been in favor of the bill. He gave an example of public officials using a private device to take public calls or emails while also using it for family or personal business.?

“I think it was really the complexity of the issue and the timing of what people wanted to see and how you delineate between personal and private, but making sure that you didn’t cross over the line by having a public phone,” Stivers said.?

The Senate president said he had “no doubt” discussion of Kentucky’s open records law will come up again in the interim.

Thayer, too, said it was “an issue that probably isn’t going away.” He is on the Senate State and Local Government Committee and hopes to urge sponsors of the bill and amendments to work together before next year’s session.?

“It’s such a moving target with modern technology, and the fact that we are part-time citizen legislators, it’s hard not to do some of your government work on this phone,” he said.?

Thayer added he did not have his Legislative Research Commission email on his phone “for a reason,” but it would be “naive” to say he does not do any “government work” on it.?

“It would make me ineffective if I couldn’t, but also I don’t want people to have access to my personal phone,” he said.?

The Open Records Act, enacted in 1974, includes exceptions that shield personal and private information from disclosure.?

Lawmakers in the General Assembly are already shielded from the Kentucky Open Records law. They passed a law in 2021 that made legislative leaders the final arbiter of decisions about disclosing legislative records. Beshear issued a futile veto of the bill at the time.?

Diversity, equity, inclusion

When he originally filed Senate Bill 6, Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, said the goal was to prevent public postsecondary institutions from requiring employees and students to “endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint” as part of graduation or hiring practices. The Senate passed his version on party lines.?

The House overhauled Senate Bill 6 to require ending DEI programs and offices at public universities and colleges. Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, had amended Wilson’s bill in committee without consulting him.

The Senate refused to concur with the sweeping changes made in the House.

The bill was posted on the Senate’s orders of the day Monday but was never called for debate or a vote.

On Monday, Thayer said “the House was unwilling to work on” Wilson’s bill, and that became an issue for the Senate. He added that the caucus did like a lot in the House version but had “some constitutional concerns.”

“I urged those who are interested in that bill — and it’s a fairly large group — to work together in the interim,” said Thayer, who is not seeking reelection to his Senate seat this year.?

While no anti-DEI legislation crossed the finish line this year, the General Assembly’s proposals followed a nationwide trend of conservative politicians rolling back such measures.?

The Senate did concur with a House floor amendment to Senate Bill 191, a postsecondary funding bill, that would prohibit the use of “any race-based metrics or targets in the formulas” for the higher education funding model.?

Robbie Fletcher, who will become eduction commissioner in July, speaks to Sen. Steve West on the Senate floor. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Isabella Sepahban)

FRANKFORT —?The Kentucky Senate has confirmed the next commissioner of education after giving him a warm reception in the Senate Education Committee last week.?

Robbie Fletcher, who is now the superintendent of Lawrence County Schools in Eastern Kentucky, was confirmed to become Kentucky’s top education official in a vote of 36-1 on Monday. He is the first education commissioner to require Senate confirmation under a law that the General Assembly passed last year.?

Sen. Phillip Wheeler, who was the sponsor of the resolution, spoke highly of Fletcher ahead of the vote and highlighted Fletcher’s “continued commitment towards the children of Kentucky schools.”

Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, called Fletcher the “Mark Pope of Kentucky education,” referring to the newest University of Kentucky men’s basketball head coach and Fletcher’s history of working as an educator in Eastern Kentucky.?

The lone no vote was Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville.?

Fletcher told reporters that he appreciated? the Senate’s vote of confidence. Between now and July, which is when he officially begins as education commissioner, Fletcher will have transition meetings with the Kentucky Department of Education and review the organization of the department.?

“My goal as commissioner will be to make sure that every single child is safe, loved, and they’re well educated,” he said.

During Friday’s committee meeting, some members congratulated Fletcher on his selection by the Kentucky Board of Education. In that meeting, Fletcher reiterated his goal to support all Kentucky students and a desire to work with lawmakers without becoming embroiled in political conflicts.?

During the Kentucky Board of Education meeting to announce its selection of Fletcher, KBE Chair Sharon Porter Robinson said the choice was made “with great confidence after great due diligence.”

She said in a Monday statement numerous education stakeholders gave feedback throughout the commissioner search process and “Fletcher embodies all of the qualities we could ask for.”?

“Throughout his time as a teacher and school administrator, Fletcher has demonstrated the qualities of an ambassador and statesperson, an expert instructional leader and a visionary innovator,” Robinson said. “We look forward to watching him flourish as the commissioner of all public schools in the Commonwealth.”

Fletcher will receive an annual salary of $265,000. His contract is through 2028.?

Former Education Commissioner Jason Glass left the role in September amid tensions with Republicans in Frankfort. At the time, Glass said he did not want to be part of implementing a controversial anti-transgender law that limited how schools can teach about human sexuality and gender identity and freed adult staff to misgender students. Glass is now at Western Michigan University.?

Education commissioner designee Robbie Fletcher, right, speaks with Senate Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, after a Senate Education Committee meeting Friday. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT — Robbie Fletcher, awaiting confirmation as Kentucky’s next education commissioner, told a Senate committee Friday that schools should be dedicated to serving all children and that he values strong teams and relationships.?

Fletcher told the Senate Education Committee about his experience as an educator in his native Eastern Kentucky and his commitment to his wife, a physician, and their three children.

He signaled a desire to work with lawmakers without becoming embroiled in political conflicts.?“My role is to the kids first, and to listen to everyone that has input,” Fletcher said.?

Friday’s committee meeting was for information only, but the Senate resolution to confirm Fletcher will likely appear on the floor during the final two days of the current legislative session. Senators on the committee were cordial toward Fletcher, who has been meeting with lawmakers ahead of his appearance. A few congratulated him on his selection.?

“We need a Kentuckian, and it’s at the perfect time for this,” said Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville.

The Kentucky Board of Education named Fletcher as its choice for the next state education commissioner last month. Fletcher is the first candidate who must seek Senate confirmation because of a law passed by the General Assembly last year.

If approved by the Senate, Fletcher will be appointed as the state’s top education official through 2028. He will receive an annual salary of $265,000.?

Fletcher has been the superintendent of Lawrence County Schools since 2014. Before that, he was a part-time faculty member at Asbury University and a principal, assistant principal and mathematics teacher in Martin County.?

Fletcher’s also Kentucky-educated. He holds a doctorate in education, a superintendency certification and a bachelor’s in mathematics from Morehead State University and a master’s in supervision and administration from the University of Kentucky.?

Chairman Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, asked Fletcher for his thoughts on the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to greenlight public dollars following students to private schools. In committee, Fletcher said he was “in favor of ‘school choice,’” but would have questions about meeting public schools’ financial needs.?

He later clarified his comment with reporters, saying he opposes public funds going to private schools, but believes students should be able to attend the school they want.?

“I do believe children should have the option to go wherever they want. We do that in my own district,” Fletcher said, giving an example of students living in one part of his county to attend a school in another area.?

He added that he will not get involved with the campaign surrounding the amendment on next November’s ballot, saying it’s not his “role to be a politician. It’s my role to serve kids.”?

The committee’s questions reflected Republicans’ disdain for former Education Commissioner Jason Glass. He left the role in September amid tensions with Republicans in Frankfort. At the time, Glass said he did not want to be part of implementing a controversial anti-transgender law that limited how schools can teach about human sexuality and gender identity and freed adult staff to misgender students. Glass is now at Western Michigan University.?

Senate Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, told Fletcher that he is not “under the governor’s authority.” Wilson was the sponsor of the law that requires Senate confirmation of education commissioners.?

“You were created, and we created KDE — apart from the governor — though he appoints the board, he is not over the board,” Wilson said to Fletcher. “And you are a separate entity outside of that. However, the legislature has the responsibility in the Constitution to provide for common schools. We make the policy and you have to implement our policy.”?

When asked if he was supportive of the law that Glass did not want to implement, Fletcher told reporters his goal is “going to be to love all children — no matter what their background, no matter what decisions they’ll make.”

Robin Fields Kinney, who was an associate commissioner of the Office of Finance and Operation within KDE, has been serving as the interim education commissioner. Fletcher said he would like Kinney to remain at the department in the future.?

Ahead of the hearing, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers told reporters that he and a few other senators, including Mike Wilson, David Givens and Steve West, know Fletcher through an advisory committee of superintendents that discusses issues with lawmakers.?

Legislative staff members have gathered information about Fletcher’s background and qualifications to share with senators. Stivers added that people who know Fletcher have also submitted letters of recommendation and none have been in opposition.?

Stivers said he expected a floor vote on Fletcher’s confirmation late Friday after the hearing or Monday —?the final day of the session.?

Kentucky’s education commissioner is the chief state school officer and chief executive officer for KDE. The commissioner recommends and implements KBE policies while also directing KDE in the management of the state’s 171 public school districts, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, Kentucky School for the Blind and the 50 state operated area technology centers.

Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass continues to give generously to a PAC affiliated with Sen. Rand Paul. (Getty Images)

Jeff Yass, the Pennsylvania billionaire and major investor in the parent company of TikTok, contributed $8 million last month to a super PAC affiliated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The super PAC is called Protect Freedom PAC, and a report it filed with the FEC on Wednesday says Yass gave the $8 million on March 31.

Yass has bankrolled Protect Freedom since it was created in 2017 by former Paul campaign operatives to support conservative candidates across the country. (The recent $8 million brings to about $30 million the total that Yass has given to Protect Freedom, about 80% of all receipts during the lifetime of Protect Freedom.)

Yass, like Paul, espouses a libertarian style of conservatism. And, besides Protect Freedom, the primary beneficiaries of his past political donations have been the big anti-tax PAC Club for Growth and super PACs that support Yass’ favorite cause of school choice. Kentuckians will be voting in November on an amendment ending the state Constitution’s ban on spending public money on nonpublic schools, potentially paving the way for charter schools and private school vouchers.

On Wednesday Bloomberg first reported the $8 million contribution to Protect Freedom in a story that noted that Yass’ political contributions are getting close scrutiny now because Yass holds a 15% stake in TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance as Congress debates whether TikTok should be banned in the United States.

And since that debate began about a year ago, Yass made his first contributions to Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House. FEC records show Yass gave $10 million in the last half of 2023 to Congressional Leadership Fund. He also is the biggest donor to a political committee of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson — contributing $250,000 to Johnson Leadership Fund in December.

During his last year in office, former-President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok unless it was sold to a U.S. owner, saying that data collected by TikTok threatened to give the Chinese Communist Party access to “personal and proprietary” information about Americans.

But Trump reversed his position in March and now opposes banning TikTok. His reversal came just days after a meeting with Yass. Trump has since said in an interview with MSNBC that he and Yass did not discuss TikTok during their meeting.

Kentucky Lantern emailed questions about the recent $8 million donation Thursday morning to Protect Freedom PAC and to the Pennsylvania trading firm headed by Yass, Susquehanna International Group. Neither immediately replied.

Bloomberg lists Yass as the 32nd wealthiest person in the world, worth $41 billion. He is also the largest political donor in the United States, according to the website Open Secrets which in February reported Yass made $46.7 million in political donations during the 2023-24 election cycle. The March 31 contribution would raise that total to $54.7 million.

Protect Freedom was founded in 2017 by former members of Rand Paul’s campaigns. Its website prominently displays a photo of Paul and says it exists for “the purpose of supporting pro-freedom and liberty-minded candidates.”

It has run independent advertising campaigns supporting candidates for the U.S. House and Senate across the country. And last year it spent at least $2.4 million on promoting the election of Republican Daniel Cameron as Kentucky governor, according to records filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Cameron lost that race to Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear.

More recently, Protect Freedom donated $500,000 in February to an Ohio super PAC called Buckeye Values that ran a campaign to support Bernie Moreno in the recent Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Buckeye Values sponsored a rally for Moreno attended by Trump’s three days before the election. Moreno won that primary over two candidates backed by Ohio’s establishment Republicans.

And Protect Freedom’s recent report filed with the FEC shows that in March it spent about $181,000 to promote three conservative Republican candidates that have publicly been endorsed by Rand Paul: Cameron Hamilton, of Virginia; Stewart Jones, of South Carolina; and Rick Becker, of North Dakota.

Protect Freedom’s recent report to the FEC shows that as of March 31 (after the $8 million contribution from Yass) it has a cash balance of about $10 million.

Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, is surrounded by media on Feb. 22 as he fields questions on Senate Bill 2, legislation creating the position of school "guardian." LRC Public Information)

Kentucky school districts will have the option of employing armed “guardians” to fill vacant law enforcement positions on campuses under a bill that became law Tuesday without Gov. Andy Beshear’s signature.?

Senate Bill 2 is a Republican-backed measure that built upon a bipartisan school safety law that was passed in 2019 after a shooting at Marshall County High School. Sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, of Campbellsville, this year’s legislation establishes the school “guardians” program while strengthening support for mental health resources.?

Beshear, a Democrat who recently won reelection in Kentucky, signed the 2019 law. He also signed a 2022 law requiring a school resource officer (SRO), a type of sworn law enforcement officer, on each campus in Kentucky.?

However, school districts have struggled to meet that requirement. Wise said while introducing his legislation this session that about 600 school campuses do not have SROs. School districts may begin using “guardians” during the 2025-26 school year. School districts may also choose to have “guardians” in schools as unpaid volunteers instead of employees.?

“When you let a bill lapse into law, it’s because you believe that there are certain good pieces on it, but you also have certain concerns,” Beshear told reporters Thursday in his weekly press conference.

The governor said he expected the Republican-controlled General Assembly to override a veto to SB 2 if he issued one, but he also wanted “to be in a position to make any program as safe as it can be knowing that it’s going to go into to law.”

Beshear added that he did have “worries about who might be in our schools” under the program and that the bill had “some real significant limitations” on trainings and tests for “guardians” to be certified. The program is voluntary for schools though, he continued.

“It’s like most of the world — this isn’t just a black or white issue,” Beshear said. “It’s a much tougher one.”

SB 2 had no additional funding tied to it when it was filed, but the legislature appropriated money for SROs in its budget bill — ?$16.5 million in the first fiscal year and then $18 million the following year. House Bill 6, ?the executive branch budget bill, says the Kentucky Department of Education would reimburse school districts up to $20,000 for each school that employs a full-time, on-site SRO.?

“We’ve learned so much about the power of additional adults with very specific training who can help keep our schools safe,” Wise said in a statement after the bill passed out of the Senate. “SB 2 complements our SROs with another set of eyes on campus or may help provide additional coverage on a school with multiple campuses.”??

Wise thanked the Kentucky Center for School Safety in a statement Wednesday afternoon for partnering on the bill.

“SB 2 bolsters the care we give to our young children and enhances the visibility of our schools through a comprehensive and connected mapping data system,” Wise said. “This provides a framework for interoperable communication inside and outside the school campus.”

The law says that certified guardians can be honorably discharged military veterans and retired or former law enforcement officers. The Kentucky Center for School Safety would certify such persons. They may carry a firearm on school property if the school district chooses.?

Florida has a school “guardian” program. Similar legislation passed in Utah this year.?

Additionally, the law directs trauma-informed teams in schools to assist school employees who work with students who have experienced trauma and record an annual report about its activities throughout the school year.?

The House Education Committee had approved an amendment backed by Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, to the bill that would have allowed pastoral counselors to serve on trauma-informed teams in schools but it is not in the final law. The amendment was not called for a floor vote in the House.?

Throughout the session, members of the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action spoke against the bill. Volunteer Cathy Hobart told the House Education Committee that “armed guards in our schools will give many people the illusion of safety, but there is no evidence that they actually provide any safety.”?

According to a report from The Trace, there are “only a handful of documented cases in which an armed security guard or stationed police officer has stopped a school shooting.”?

In response to the bill becoming law, Kirby Van Lierop, a volunteer with the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement to the Kentucky Lantern it was “yet another example of how the gun lobby’s ‘guns everywhere’ agenda has taken over the meaning of public safety in our state,” and called allowing more guns in school a “dangerous and misguided idea.”?

“We’re disappointed that our lawmakers spent this legislative session working overtime to pass this bill rather than actually passing preventative gun safety measures that would keep our children safe in school,” Van Lierop said. “But we won’t be deterred — we’ll continue to fight for common sense policies that will keep guns out of our schools and out of the hands of those who could be a danger to themselves and others. That’s what will really help keep our children safe.”?

Beshear also allowed another gun-related measure to become law without his signature. Senate Bill 20 requires that juveniles, 15 or older, accused of having a gun during the commission of an alleged felony be automatically transferred to circuit court for trial as an adult. The bill allows the commonwealth’s attorney to return the case to district court after determining that it would be in the best interest of “the public and the child to do so.”

This story was updated Thursday afternoon with additional comments.

Haley Autumn Dawn Ann Crank poses for a photo with her hometown of Hazard behind her on March 25, 2024. (Photo by Austin Anthony for The Hechinger Report)

HAZARD — Haley Autumn Dawn Ann Crank thinks she might like to become a teacher. There’s a shortage of teachers in this corner of Kentucky, and Crank, who has eight siblings, gets kids.

“I just fit in with them,” Crank said during a shift one February day at the Big Blue Smokehouse, where she works as a waitress.?

For now, the recent high school graduate is taking some education courses at the local community college. But to pursue a teaching degree at a public, comprehensive university, she’ll need to commute four hours roundtrip or leave the town she grew up in and loves.

Neither of those options is feasible — or even conceivable — for many residents of Hazard, a close-knit community of just over 5,000 tucked into the hills of Southeast Kentucky. Like many rural Americans, the people here are place-bound, their educational choices constrained by geography as much as by cost. With family and jobs tying them to the region, and no local four-year option, many settle for a two-year degree, or skip college altogether.?

Until fairly recently, that decision made economic sense. Mining jobs were plentiful, and the money was good. But the collapse of the coal industry here and across Appalachia has made it harder to survive on a high school education. Today, just under half the residents over the age of 16 in Perry County, where Hazard sits, are employed; the national average is 63 percent. More than a quarter of the county’s residents are in poverty; the median household income is $45,000, compared to $75,000 nationally.?

Now, spurred by concerns that low levels of college attainment are holding back the southeastern swath of the state, the Kentucky legislature is exploring ways to bring baccalaureate degrees to the region. The leading option calls for turning Hazard’s community and technical college into a standalone institution offering a handful of degrees in high-demand fields, like teaching and nursing.

The move to expand education here comes as many states are cutting majors at rural colleges and merging rural institutions, blaming funding shortfalls and steadily dwindling enrollments.

If successful, the new college could bring economic growth to one of the poorest and least educated parts of the country and serve as a model for the thousands of other “educational deserts” scattered across America. Proponents say it has the potential to transform the region and the lives of its battered but resilient residents.

But the proposal carries significant costs and risks. Building a residence hall alone would cost an estimated $18 million; running the new college would add millions more to the tab. Enrollment might fall short of projections, and the hoped-for jobs might not materialize. And if they didn’t, the newly-educated residents would likely take their degrees elsewhere, deepening the region’s “brain drain.”

“The hope is that if you build the institution, employers will come,” said Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, which has studied the idea on behalf of the legislature. “But it is somewhat of an experiment.”

Still, Thompson said, it’s an experiment worth exploring.?

“To say you need to move to be prosperous is not a solution, and that’s pretty much been the solution since many of the coal mines disappeared,” he said.

At the airport in Lexington, there’s a sign greeting passengers that reads, “You’ve landed in one smart city.” Lexington, the sign proclaims, is ranked #11 among larger cities in the share of the population with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

But drive a couple hours to the southeast, and the picture changes. Only 13 percent of the residents of Perry County over the age of 25 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, well below the national average of 34 percent.?

Study: Building a new public university in Southeastern Kentucky ‘problematic’

Michelle Ritchie-Curtis, the co-principal of Perry County Central High School, said the problem isn’t convincing kids to go to college, it’s keeping them there. Though nearly two-thirds of the county’s high school graduates continue on to college, just over a third of those who enroll in public four-years graduate within six years, compared to close to 60 percent statewide, according to the Council on Postsecondary Education.?

In Hazard, as in many rural places, kids grow up hearing the message that they need to leave to succeed. But many return after a year or two, citing homesickness or the high cost of college, Ritchie-Curtis said. Sometimes, they feel ashamed about abandoning their aspirations. They take off a semester, and it becomes years, she said.?

Those who make it to graduation and leave tend to stay gone, discouraged by the region’s limited job opportunities. This exodus, and the lack of a four-year college nearby, have hampered Hazard’s ability to attract employers who might fill the void left by the decline of coal, said Zach Lawrence, executive director of the Hazard-Perry County Economic Development Alliance.

Ritchie-Curtis said that having a local option would solve the homesickness problem and could save students money in room and board. It could also help stem the region’s brain drain and alleviate a teaching shortage that has forced the school to hire a growing number of career changers, she added.

To Jennifer Lindon, the president of Hazard Community and Technical College, “it all boils down to equity.”

“If we can provide a [four-year] education, and make it affordable, perhaps we can break the cycle of poverty in Southeast Kentucky,” she said.

MIT, Yale and other elite colleges are finally reaching out to rural students

Converting Hazard’s two-year college into a four-year institution wasn’t among the options initially considered by the Kentucky General Assembly. When lawmakers asked the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education to study the feasibility of bringing four-year degrees to Southeast Kentucky, it offered three approaches: building a new public university; creating a satellite campus of an existing comprehensive university; or acquiring a private college to convert into a public one.?

But the council concluded in its report that each of those alternatives was “in some way problematic.” A new university would be prohibitively expensive and might fail; a new branch campus could suffer the same enrollment challenges as existing satellites; and acquiring a private college would be legally complicated.?

The council considered the possibility of allowing the community college to offer baccalaureate degrees — something a growing number of states permit — but worried that doing so would lead to “mission creep” and “intense competition” for the state’s dwindling number of high school graduates.

Instead, the council recommended that the legislature study the idea of making Hazard’s community college a standalone institution offering both technical degrees and a few bachelor’s programs “in line with workforce demand.” Starting small, the council suggested, would allow policymakers and college leaders to gauge student demand before building out baccalaureate offerings.

That approach makes sense to Sen. Robert Stivers, the president of the Kentucky Senate, and the sponsor of the bill that commissioned the council’s study.?

“I don’t think you can just jump off the cliff into the lake,” he said. “You need to be a little more measured.”?

But Andrew Koricich, executive director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges at Appalachian State University, said the region’s residents deserve a comprehensive college. He likened the limited offerings envisioned by the council to former President George W. Bush’s “soft bigotry of low expectations.”

“There’s this idea that rural people should be happy they have anything,” he said.?

Koricich pointed to the recent merger of Martin Methodist University, a private religious college, with the University of Tennessee system as proof that the legal hurdles to acquiring a private college aren’t insurmountable.?

But Thompson, the CPE president, said that the private colleges in southeast Kentucky are located too far from most residents and the schools weren’t interested in being acquired, anyway. He argued that while a comprehensive university might be “ideal,” it wasn’t realistic.

“In an ideal world, I’d be young again with a great back,” he said. “But in reality, I work with what I’ve got. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

Rural universities, already few and far between, are being stripped of majors

When Stivers was growing up in southeastern Kentucky in the ’60s and ’70s, coal was king. A high school graduate could get a job paying $15 an hour — good money at the time — without ever setting foot in a college classroom, he said.?

With mining jobs so abundant, “there wasn’t a value placed on education,” Stivers recalled.

Coal production peaked in eastern Kentucky in 1990, and has been on the decline ever since. Today, there are just over 400 individuals employed in coal jobs in Perry County.

The shrinking of the sector has had ripple effects across Appalachia, hurting industries that support mining and local businesses that cater to its workers. Many residents have migrated to urban centers, seeking work, and once-thriving downtowns have been hollowed out.

By the middle of the last decade, most of the buildings in downtown Hazard were either empty or occupied by attorneys and banks. The only place to gather was a hole-in-the-wall bar called the Broken Spoke Lounge, recalled Luke Glaser, a city commissioner and assistant principal at Hazard High School. When the Grand Hotel burned down, in 2015, a sense of resignation settled in, Glaser said.

The region has also been hard hit by opioids, which were aggressively marketed to rural doctors treating miners for injuries and black lung disease. In 2017, Perry County had the highest opioid abuse hospitalization rate in the nation.

Then, in 2021, and again in 2022, the region suffered severe flooding, which washed away homes and took the lives of almost 50 residents of Southeast Kentucky.

Yet Hazard is also in the midst of what Glaser calls an “Appalachian Renaissance,” a revival being led by 20- and 30-somethings who have come home or moved to the area in recent years. Though Appalachian Kentucky lost 2.2 percent of its population between 2010 and 2019, Hazard grew by 13 percent.?

A decade ago, a group of long-time residents and young people began meeting with a mission to revitalize Hazard’s main street. The group, which called itself InVision Hazard, hired a downtown coordinator and brought free Wi-Fi and improved signage to the downtown area.

Over the past four-and-a-half years, close to 70 new businesses have opened within a three-mile radius of downtown, and only eight have closed, according to Betsy Clemons, executive director of the Hazard Perry County Chamber of Commerce. There’s an independent bookstore, an arts alliance that will put on seven full-length productions this year, and a toy store — all run by residents who grew up in Hazard and returned as adults.

The Grand Hotel, which stood as a burned-out shell for years, has finally been torn down, making way for an outdoor entertainment park with space for food trucks and a portable stage, and plans for live entertainment on Friday nights.

As the downtown has transformed, collective feelings of apathy and resignation have given way to a new sense of possibility, Glaser said. Brightly colored murals reading “We Can Do This,” and “Together” adorn the sides of two downtown buildings.

To Mandi Sheffel, the owner of Read Spotted Newt bookstore, the creation of a four-year college feels like a logical next step for a place that was recently dubbed “a hip destination for young people” (a description that both delights and amuses people here).

“In every college town I’ve been to, there’s a vibe, a pride in the community,” she said.

These days, Hazard is feeling that pride, too.

On the vocational campus of Hazard Community and Technical College in February, Jordan Joseph and Austin Cox, recent high school grads, stood alongside a tractor trailer truck, pointing out its parts. In as little as four weeks, they could become commercially licensed truck drivers, a career that pays close to $2,000 a week.

Both men followed dads and grandads into the profession and said they couldn’t imagine sitting in a classroom for four years after high school. Like the sign on the side of the truck they were working on said, they want to “Get in, Get Out, and Get to Work.”

Inside one of the campus’ labs, a pair of aspiring electricians said they doubted many local residents would be able to afford a four-year degree.

“I don’t think you’d get a lot of people,” said Walker Isaacs, one of the students.

Their skepticism underscores a key risk in creating a four-year college in a place that’s never had one: There’s no guarantee students will enroll. Larger forces — including a looming decline in the number of high school graduates, an improved labor market, and public doubts about the value of higher education — could dampen demand for four-year degrees, forcing the college to either cut costs or seek state funding to cover its losses.

Recognizing this risk — and the possibility that employers won’t show up, either — the Council declined to give an “unqualified endorsement” to the idea of turning the community college into a four-year institution, saying further study was needed. In February,? Stivers, the state Senate president, introduced a bill that calls on the council to survey potential students and employers about the idea and to provide more detailed estimates of its potential costs and revenues.

Converting the college could also cause enrollment to fall at the state’s existing public and private four-years. Eastern Kentucky University, the hardest hit, could lose as many as 250 students in the seventh year after conversion, the council estimated in its report. While the council did not examine the possible effect on private colleges in the region, the president of Union College in Barbourville, Marcia Hawkins, said in a statement that, “Depending on the majors added, such a move could certainly impact enrollment at our southern and eastern Kentucky institutions.”

But on the main campus of Hazard Community and Technical College, there’s growing excitement about the prospect of the two-year college becoming a four-year.

Ashley Smith, who is studying to become a registered nurse, said the proposed conversion would make it easier for her to earn the bachelor’s degree she’s always wanted. With three kids at home, she can’t manage an hours-long commute to and from class.

Another nursing student, Lakyn Bolen, said she’d be more likely to continue her education if she could do so from home. She left Hazard once to finish a four-year degree, and is reluctant to do so again.

“It’s not fun going away,” Bolen said. “We definitely need more nursing opportunities here.”

Dylon Baker, assistant vice president of workforce initiatives for Appalachian Regional Healthcare, agrees. His nonprofit, which operates 14 hospitals in Kentucky and West Virginia, has struggled with staffing shortages and spent millions on contract workers. The shortages have forced the system to shutter some beds, reducing access to care in a region with high rates of diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

“We are taking care of the sickest of the sickest,” Baker said. “We have to give them access to quality health care.”

Hazard’s community college already offers some higher-level degrees, such as nursing, through partnerships with four-year public and private colleges in Kentucky. But most of the programs are online-only, and many students prefer in-person learning, said Deronda Mobelini, chief student affairs officer. Others lack access to broadband internet or can’t afford it.

If the conversion goes through, the college will continue to offer online baccalaureates and a wide range of certificates and associate degrees, said Lindon, the HCTC president. She envisions a system of “differential tuition” where students seeking four-year degrees would pay less during the first two years of their programs.

Though the college would still cater to commuters, a residence hall would attract students from a wider area and alleviate a housing shortage made more acute by the recent floods, Lindon said.

Ultimately, the future of the institution will rest with the Kentucky legislature, which must decide if it wants to spend some of its continuing budget surplus on bringing four-year degrees to an underserved corner of the state.

But Lindon is already imagining the possibilities, and the Appalachian culture course that she’d make mandatory for students seeking bachelor’s degrees.

“For too long, we’ve been taught to hide or even be ashamed of where we’re from,” she said. “We want to teach young people to be proud of our Appalachian heritage.”

This story about access to higher education was produced by?The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our?higher education newsletter. Listen to our?higher education podcast.

Kentucky State University's nursing program has outgrown the Betty White Health Center which opened in 1971. Nursing classes are spread in buildings across campus. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky State University requested $50 million this year to build a nursing school for its growing class of future health care providers.

The legislature ultimately rejected the request, even though Kentucky enjoys a record-high revenue surplus and suffers from a shortage of nurses.

“The real tragedy is that we had the money to do it,” Rep. George Brown Jr., a Lexington Democrat, told the Lantern last week. He called the omission “a travesty.”

Brown and other lawmakers said the decision is part of a long pattern of neglect and underinvestment in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — a disparity the Biden administration also has highlighted.

It’s “always been the history,” said House Democratic Floor Leader Derrick Graham, a KSU alum who urged Republican legislative leaders to fund the nursing building.

During House debate, Black lawmakers pointed out that Kentucky’s only public HBCU was being denied $50 million for a project they deem critical to its future, while $125 million was quickly found for Northern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky to open a biomedical center in downtown Covington, where plans also call for NKU to move its law school.

The Senate added the Covington project to House Bill 1, which moves $2.7 billion from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund into one-time spending over the next two years. HB 1 includes other higher education projects: $60 million for a veterinary tech facility at Murray State University, $25 million for a UofL Health cancer center in Bullitt County and $22 million for a livestock innovation center at a University of Kentucky research farm.?

“Kentucky State always seems to suffer and always has to wait,” Brown said March 29 on the House floor. “‘You have to wait your time; it’s not your time.’ … So the question is, when will it be Kentucky State’s time?”

‘Lucky’ to get what they’re getting, says Thayer

When budget negotiators met in a free conference committee on March 26, Graham asked why KSU’s “top priority” was not included in budget legislation. Graham represents Frankfort where KSU sits on a hill overlooking the capital city.

Sen. Chris McDaniel, chairman of the Senate budget committee, said that KSU had revised its budget request by also asking for money to deal with failing infrastructure and other maintenance needs.

House Bill 6, the state budget bill, sets aside $60 million in bonding for KSU for “asset preservation,” described by McDaniel as “cleaning up campus.” House Bill 1 includes $5 million to design a Health Science Center for the nursing program but nothing to build it. McDaniel vowed “full intent” to pay for construction of KSU’s nursing building in the 2026 budget bill. McDaniel’s district includes Covington; he was instrumental in obtaining the $125 million for the downtown project involving NKU.

“We have a great deal of confidence in the new president of Kentucky State,” McDaniel said in the March 26 meeting. He was speaking of Koffi Akakpo, who became KSU’s 19th president last year on July 1. Before that, he was president of Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

HB 6 provides all the public higher ed institutions with asset preservation funding pools for renovation and maintenance of buildings and other infrastructure.?

During the free conference committee meeting, Democratic Senate leaders Gerald Neal of Louisville and Reggie Thomas of Lexington said that expanding KSU’s nursing program, which has a waiting list, is critical to the school’s rebound from recent troubles. The construction delay will cost KSU new students and needed tuition revenue and disrupt Akakpo’s plan for the future, said Neal. Neal and Thomas urged the budget negotiations to reconsider.

Thomas suggested spending less on restoration and maintenance at KSU in this budget to free up $50 million over the next two years to design and build the nursing building.

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown responded ??that KSU was “probably lucky that they get the taxpayer money that they have been getting and continue getting.”?

“With the recent numbers and results that have come from K-State, I think we should be dubious moving forward,” he said, adding the “numbers have been pretty embarrassing.”?

KSU has faced a series of controversies, including misused funds under a former administration and a 2023 warning from its accreditation body. In 2022, the legislature put KSU under a management improvement plan and provided $23 million to help it recover from a budget deficit.?

Training today’s nurse for today’s medicine

In an interview with the Lantern last week, Akakpo said he is “grateful” for the $60 million in bonding but that it will “go quickly” as he tackles a list of maintenance needs.

The HVAC system, he said, is “not quite up to par” and the dorms are “in really bad shape.” Sidewalks and entryways need fixing, he said, and “leaky roofs” have caused damage that needs attention.

The $60 million does “not quite” cover these needs, he said. “But we will try the best we can.”?

A new building for nursing students and money to address maintenance needs were “both equally crucial for us to move forward,” Akakpo told the Lantern.

Nursing students make up 24% of KSU’s enrollment at around 342 students and “it’s only going to grow,” said Akakpo. Nursing students study in three different buildings across campus because they don’t have a designated building large enough.??

The Betty White Health Center, which is 53 years old, hosts administrative offices and the learning lab. Nursing students take classes in Bradford Hall, Carver Hall and Hathaway Hall.

“The building is needed because the building that is assigned to the nursing program is too small,” Akakpo said. It’s also already full.?

“We’re using other buildings to accommodate but these are buildings that are for other programs,” he said. “It’s just making it a bit complicated to manage but we have no choice.”?

“It may be an issue” in the future to recruit students without the proper space to educate them, Akakpo said. “But there is always a solution; … either we get it this round, or we’ll get it next round.”?

Kentucky is thousands of nurses short of what it needs. The state is short 5,391 registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), according to the Kentucky Hospital Association. And, the students going into nursing school aren’t enough to replace those retiring and leaving the workforce.?

Rep. Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, questions how money was allocated and why some higher education programs get more funding than others. She wants to see more transparency around the process of spending taxpayer money, she told the Lantern.?

“It’s the structure and the transparency of the process that I’m not sure all citizens have access to,” she said. “It worked against KSU this time. They’ve got to scramble and figure out what to do with their … nurses.”?

“It matters a lot. The work is very, very hard to do. It’s grueling to become a nurse. You’ve got to have the facilities that are keeping up with the way they nurse today,” she said. “We’ve got to have a facility to train the ‘today’ nurse for today’s medicine if we want to attract people and get rid of this deficit that we have.”?

‘Just one more slap in the face’

Brown said KSU’s backlog of maintenance needs stems from historic underinvestment. The historically Black university, he said, is “the redheaded stepchild, if you will” of Kentucky higher education.

The Biden administration last year documented roughly $12 billion in underfunding for HBCUs nationwide when compared with state funding of similar predominantly white institutions.?

The study compared land-grant institutions created by Congress in the 19th century, first for white students and later for Black students. KSU and UK are Kentucky’s land-grant universities. In Kentucky the disparity in per student state funding from 1987 to 2020 was $172 million.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack sent letters to governors, including Kentucky’s, asking for states to right the “historical underinvestment.”?

A September letter sent to Gov. Andy Beshear cited “unbalanced funding” and “ longstanding and ongoing underinvestment” as reasons KSU “has not been able to advance in ways that are on par with University of Kentucky.”?

“Unequitable funding” of KSU, the letter said, put KSU $172,135,168 short of what it would have received in the last 30 years.

“These funds could have supported infrastructure and student services and would have better positioned the university to compete for research grants,” the letter stated. “Kentucky State University has been able to make remarkable strides and would be much stronger and better positioned to serve its students, your state, and the nation if made whole with respect to this funding gap.”?

The budget Beshear introduced in December did not include money for the KSU nursing building. It did ask lawmakers to allocate about $1.2 million to KSU for nursing and social work scholarships in 2024-2026.?

Stevenson said the legislature’s refusal to fund KSU’s nursing building this year is “just one more slap in the face. It sends the message of ‘you’re never going to be good enough. You’re never going to get what you need to thrive.’”

When “we have treasure that we refuse to honor,” Stevenson said, it “creates a division across the commonwealth.”?

Brown agrees. “How long,” he asked, “must Kentucky State be put on the back burner?”

Akakpo is confident in the legislature’s support for KSU, saying he’s “very grateful to our elected officials” and “I know they care. They’re very supportive of me.”?

Akakpo is focused on the immediate: getting campus repairs like the HVAC system tackled before next winter. He’s confident the support will come — if not in the final two days of this session on April 12 and 15, then the next budget cycle.?

“Since KSU found itself in financial problems, (lawmakers) have been there, supporting,” he said. “I’m confident that support is going to continue.”

According to March of Dimes, nearly 7 million people of reproductive age live in a county that is considered a maternity care desert as of 2022.?About 2.2 million of those people live in an area with no hospital providing obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetrics providers. (Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday a $25,000 increase in loan forgiveness available to primary care providers in designated underserved areas. That means qualifying individuals are eligible for up to $75,000 in forgiveness if they commit to two full-time years of service.

The amount is available to medical and osteopathic doctors, including OB-GYNs, pediatricians, nurse practitioners and midwives, and physician assistants who practice in areas with shortages of primary care providers. The move is meant to help rural and historically underserved communities provide primary care services.

It could also help areas that have been deemed “maternal care deserts” after clinics closed because adequate staffing levels could not be maintained, leaving care limited or completely absent and forcing people to travel long distances for standard appointments.

This has especially been a problem in states with abortion bans since 2022, including Idaho, Mississippi and South Dakota. Idaho has lost 22% of its practicing OB-GYNs since a near-total abortion ban went into effect in late 2022, along with half of the state’s maternal-fetal medicine specialists, and three clinics across the state closed their labor and delivery units in the same time frame. Doctors have said it has been difficult to recruit new physicians to fill those positions — one doctor said Wednesday that out-of-state applications for openings have dropped significantly.

According to March of Dimes, nearly 7 million people of reproductive age live in a county that is considered a maternity care desert as of 2022, or about 35%. That number has reportedly grown in the past two years. About 2.2 million of those people live in an area with no hospital providing obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetrics providers. The 2022 report showed more than 97,000 Ohioans were affected by reductions in access to maternity care, the highest of any state.

Another 11.4%, according to the report, live in an area considered to have low access to maternity care, meaning fewer than two hospitals or birth centers providing maternity services and fewer than 60 OB-GYN providers. Research also notes challenges finding care in rural and medically underserved communities disproportionately affect people of color, particularly Black patients.

Medical school costs have grown, and associated debt has increased four-fold over the past 30 years, according to HHS, but the maximum loan forgiveness had remained at $50,000 until now. The Health Resources and Services Administration division of HHS is responsible for the program.

An additional maximum of $5,000 in loan repayment will be available for those who pass an oral exam showing they are fluent in Spanish and practice in high need areas with patients who have limited proficiency in English. Research from the American Medical Association has shown those patients have worse health outcomes and provider experiences.

HHS is also working to create new primary care residency programs in rural communities, which would provide 540 openings for physicians in specialty care, once operational, according to the release. It is also conducting more than 25,000 training sessions for practicing primary care providers, including OB-GYNs, nurse midwives and other maternal care providers to diagnose and treat mental health conditions among pregnant patients, new moms, children and adolescents.

The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program is accepting applications until May 9.

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, gives a lecture as part of the McConnell Center’s Distinguished Speaker Series in Louisville, April. (Screenshot)

LOUISVILLE —?U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced his “favorite freshman” senator to a crowd at his alma mater Tuesday.?

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, a first-term Republican from Alabama, delivered a lecture as part of the McConnell Center’s Distinguished Speaker Series at the University of Louisville. She spoke about lessons she’s learned from the past year and a half as the youngest Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.?

Speaking to students in the McConnell Scholars program, she stressed the importance of hard work to get ahead and also working with others who might have a different perspective.

She said some of her greatest friends in the Senate include people from across the aisle, like fellow freshman U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat. Britt said the two met during their orientation and bonded over wanting to make a difference. Britt said she was “humbled” by his trust when he asked her to visit him while ?hospitalized for clinical depression last year. She called him “brave” for being open about seeking help for mental health challenges.

“While we might not agree on much politically, we all took the same oath of office, we are all united under one flag and we all have a deep love for our country that supersedes which side of the aisle that we fall on,” Britt said.?

“And by getting in the same room, having real conversations, we end up finding common ground that we otherwise would have never known we had. And where those things overlap, that’s where you have to march forward.”?

Britt gained national attention last month after she gave the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address. Some of her Tuesday remarks echoed that speech, as she blamed the Biden administration for failing to address national and international issues like immigration and the economy.?

She also discussed her Senate race, diplomatic trips abroad, how her family and personal relationships influence her politics and how she became interested in government at a young age.?

She said “a lot of tough conversations” must be had in the United States about the country’s future.?

“And if we ever want those tough conversations to actually yield results, they’re going to have to be honest, right?” she said. “And if they’re going to be honest, you’ve got to both trust and respect the person sitting across from you. That is not something that is given. It is something that is earned.”?

Britt recounted advice from her grandfather when she initially didn’t run for a position in a youth mock government program after comparing herself to her peers. He told her “your character, your integrity, your work ethic and the way you treat people” determine a person’s path in life.?

“Taking a step back, being confident, being you and not underestimating what you’re capable of, is critically important in every single venture — controlling what you can control and knowing that you are worthy of being in the arena,” she said.?

While introducing Britt, McConnell referenced her State of the Union rebuttal and reiterated he saw her voice as a mother and wife to be “no better choice to contrast President Biden and his policies.”?

McConnell also briefly acknowledged some of the criticisms Britt’s delivery received, including a parody on Saturday Night Live. McConnell acknowledged that he’s no stranger to such criticism himself.?

“I’ve been called everything from Darth Vader to the Grim Reaper. So, I’ve worked with Katie for more than a year now,” McConnell said. “So, I know it’s going to take a lot more than a few punches from the press to knock her down.”?

Britt joined McConnell’s leadership team as an adviser last summer. The group often includes high ranking GOP congressional leaders.?

McConnell’s influence on Kentucky Republican politics is far and wide. The audience included several politicians and staffers with connections to Kentucky’s senior senator, including Attorney General Russell Coleman, who previously served as legal counsel for McConnell.?

Earlier this year, McConnell announced he plans to step down as the Republican Senate leader later this year. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.?

The nonpartisan McConnell Center, named after the senior senator, oversees initiatives like the speaker series and the competitive McConnell Scholars program. Students in that program attended Britt’s speech and she often spoke directly to them about the future ahead of them.?Britt is the center’s 66th distinguished speaker. She joins other previous guests including Biden, President George W. Bush, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Robbie Fletcher was a teacher and principal in Martin County before becoming superintendent of the Lawrence County schools. (Screenshot)

FRANKFORT?—?When Kentucky senators return to Frankfort next month for the two final days of the legislative session, they will have to decide whether to confirm the Kentucky Board of Education’s selection for education commissioner.?

The board announced its choice of Lawrence County Schools Superintendent Robbie Fletcher in a meeting last week. If approved by the Senate, Fletcher will become the state’s top education official starting July 1 through 2028.?

A? resolution has been? filed in the Senate to confirm Fletcher’s appointment along with several resolutions for several other appointments to various boards and positions. Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, is the primary sponsor of Senate Resolution 285 to confirm Fletcher’s appointment..?

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, of Georgetown, told reporters it’s possible the Senate will have a committee hearing to review Fletcher’s appointment during the 10-day veto period. He said the Senate is fast tracking a background check and reviewing Fletcher’s qualifications.?

“Everybody needs to go home and cool off after today,” Thayer said around midnight Friday after adjournment on the session’s last day before the break. “And I’m sure there’ll be an opportunity for us next week to decide whether or not Mr. Fletcher has a committee hearing during the veto recess, or if it’s going to happen on day 59 or 60.”?

Thayer said Fletcher would most likely appear before the Senate Education Committee. The final days of the session are April 12 and 15.?

The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed a law last year requiring education commissioners to receive Senate confirmation. Fletcher will be? the first to do so.?

The law was enacted amid tension between Republicans and former Education Commissioner Jason Glass. He left the role in September and said he did not want to be part of implementing a sweeping controversial anti-transgender law that included limitations on how schools can teach about human sexuality and gender identity and freed adult staff to misgender students.

While speaking about the selection, KBE Chair Sharon Porter Robinson said the board is ready to support Fletcher’s Senate confirmation after making a selection “with great confidence after great due diligence.”?

After some media reports indicated that some top Republicans in the Senate were unclear on their initial support for Fletcher, he said on social media that he looks “forward to the opportunity of earning ALL of our legislators’ trust in order to accomplish great things, together, for our students.”?

Senate Republican Whip Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, did say he was “encouraged by the initial reports” about Fletcher.

Kentucky Senate at work. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

A nearly unanimous Senate on Wednesday night approved a state budget for the next two years before the document was publicly available on the legislature’s web site.

The compromise budget, which by Thursday morning was posted on the legislature’s site, emerged from a House-Senate free conference committee on Tuesday. It increases funding for the basic public school funding formula beyond what either the House or Senate had originally proposed.

The budget increases state employee pay by 3% each year but does not specifically dedicate money to raise pay for educators. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear had sought an 11% increase for school employees. Republicans said the increase in the SEEK (Support Education Excellence in Kentucky) formula of 3% in the first year and 6% in the second year should allow most school districts to increase pay.

Senate President Robert Stivers and other Republicans said that funding teacher raises outside the SEEK formula would widen funding disparities among districts and put the legislature out of compliance with a 1989 state Supreme Court order requiring funding equalization.

Under questioning from Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, Sen. Chris McDaniel, chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said the budget capped the amount of money the governor could draw from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund to respond to natural disasters. Neal noted the provision could force the governor to call the legislature into special session during an emergency.

McDaniel also said the budget does not provide funding to build two juvenile detention facilities for females, as requested by Beshear.

A news release from the Senate Republican Caucus said McDaniel and GOP leaders had “prioritized” putting the state in a position to continue reducing the income tax rate in future years. The legislature has reduced the income tax rate from 5% to 4% since 2022, which the GOP release said has “left $1.8 billion in the pockets of working Kentuckians.”

House Bill 6 — which lays out the? two-year $102 billion executive branch budget — includes general, restricted and federal funds. The Senate approved it 36-1 with only Republican Sen. Adrienne? Southworth voting no.?

The House now must approve the compromise budget before it goes to the governor who has line-item veto power.

Still to emerge from conference committee is House Bill 1, which funds numerous projects from the state’s record high Budget Reserve Trust Fund.

This article has been updated to correct an inaccurate description of the the juvenile justice law enacted by the legislature last year.

Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, has twice sponsored a bill to help schools avoid hiring teachers who have a record of misconduct toward minors. (LRC Public Information)

FRANKFORT — A House bill aimed at helping Kentucky schools avoid hiring sexual abusers gained passage in the Senate Wednesday.?

Sponsored by House Education Committee Chairman Rep. James Tipton, House Bill 275 would require those seeking employment in schools to disclose if they were the subject of an allegation, investigation or disciplinary action within the past year involving abusive misconduct while working in a school.

Similar legislation was passed by the House during the last legislative session, but died in the Senate.?

The Senate approved the bill 35-0.?

Tipton, a Taylorsville Republican, filed his bill last year following an investigative series by the Lexington Herald-Leader that found sexual misconduct was the most common reason Kentucky teachers had their licenses revoked or suspended between 2016 to 2021. In that time, teachers in 118 of 194 cases lost their license because of sexual misconduct.?

Earlier this session, Tipton said his bill would give “school districts the tools to ensure the safety of our children from predatory individuals.”?

“These individuals are responsible for some of the most heinous crimes that we see involving students,” Tipton said. “They should not be allowed to harm our children and then move on to another school district to avoid punishment. HB 275 makes sure these individuals are held accountable, and that school districts have the information necessary to keep them out of the classroom.”

The Senate approved a committee substitute, meaning differences in the House bill must be resolved.?

Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Russell, introduced the amendment adding pastoral counselors to the school "guardian" bill. (LRC Public Information)

FRANKFORT — A bill authorizing armed “guardians” to fill vacant law enforcement positions in Kentucky schools was passed by a House committee Tuesday morning with several new additions, including one allowing pastoral counselors in schools.?

Discussion among House Education Committee members largely centered on an amendment for Senate Bill 2 from Irvington Republican Rep. Josh Calloway that would allow licensed pastoral counselors to serve on trauma-informed teams in schools. He said the addition “gives parents options if they’re helping direct that care inside the school” and allows schools to have more “options based on what type of trauma that they were dealing with.”?

The original Senate Bill 2 directed trauma-informed teams in schools to assist school employees who work with students who have experienced trauma in the past and record an annual report about its activities throughout the school year.?

Republicans and Democrats on the committee raised concerns about the addition, but the amendment ultimately passed in a vote of 13-3 and one pass vote.?

Rep. Steve Riley, R-Glasgow, said his vote was a “wishy-washy yes” as he believes some ministers could excel in this capacity while others could not. He said he wanted to support the bill moving out of committee to avoid killing the entire legislation.?

“I’m concerned that this got dropped on us real fast without us having a chance to process everything about this and I need a little more time to process it,” Riley said.?

Another Republican, Rep. Killian Timoney, of Nicholasville, agreed with Riley. Timoney said that he does see that the addition could address needs in some districts but he did not believe it was necessary with his knowledge of the mental health system. He said in the committee that he has served on trauma-informed teams in the past.?

“If the alternative is to remove trauma-informed care, I’ll take this,” Timoney said.?

While voting no on the amendment, Louisville Democratic Rep. Tina Bojanowski, a teacher, said the committee had little preparation to consider the amendment that “some people would consider extreme” and added that not all of the questions were answered during the meeting.?

Another Louisville Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Josie Raymond, voted no because “school is school and church is church.”?

The primary sponsor of SB 2, Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, said he supported Calloway’s amendment as students who need mental health assistance could have “more offerings” under the change.?

Abby Piper, a lobbyist representing the Kentucky School Counselors Association, told the committee the organization was not consulted about the amendment and isn’t supportive of it. However, the association is supportive of SB 2 and the committee substitute adopted Tuesday.?

After the meeting, the association released a statement urging Kentuckians to tell their lawmakers to oppose Senate Bill 2.

According to the active license directory for the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Pastoral Counselors, the state has 33 active license holders.

Other changes

The committee also adopted a substitute version of the bill Tuesday. Chairman Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, said the changes included more oversight of the school “guardian” program by giving the Kentucky Center for School Safety a staffer to coordinate the program if funds are available. Tipton said funds were included in the Senate’s proposed budget.?

Under Wise’s original proposal, certified “guardians” would include honorably discharged military veterans and retired or former law enforcement officers. Other states like Florida have similar programs.?

Another change in the committee was that if a local school board does decide to employ a “guardian,” it must enter an agreement with local and state law enforcement to identify the chain of command in emergency situations.?

Wise had said his current legislation is a continuation of a school safety law that he successfully carried in 2019. The General Assembly enacted that as a response to a school shooting at Marshall County High School that killed two students and injured more than a dozen people.?

Representatives from the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action spoke against the bill. The group seeks public safety measures to protect people from gun violence. One volunteer, Cathy Hobart, said she was “impressed with the care and concern” used to enact the 2019 law, but the current bill lacks the same concern behind it. He’s said his current legislation is a continuation of that policy.?

“I think that armed guards in our schools will give many people the illusion of safety, but there is no evidence that they actually provide any safety,” Hobart said. According to a report from The Trace, there are “only a handful of documented cases in which an armed security guard or stationed police officer has stopped a school shooting.”?

“And if we really want to keep our kids safe in school,” Hobart continued, “what we need to do is encourage their parents and grandparents and neighbors to lock up their guns.” Senate Bill 56, requiring safe storage of firearms and filed by Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, has not been given a committee hearing.?

As of Tuesday morning, Senate Bill 2 had no readings on the House floor. After a third reading, the House can vote on the legislation.?

Students listen to their teacher during a class at Phoenix Christian School PreK-8 in Phoenix. School choice allows taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition instead of only financing public schools. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pressed hard for school choice, using funds from out-of-state allies to defeat members of his own party who oppose it. (Ross D. Franklin/The Associated Press)

For years, many rural Texas school districts, often barely scraping by on lean operating budgets, have relied on their local representatives in the Republican-led state legislature to fend off school voucher programs. Some of these GOP lawmakers, along with many of their liberal colleagues from larger cities, have argued that giving families taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools or to educate them at home would drain money from the public schools.

That wall of resistance is now on the verge of collapse, thanks to a multimillion-dollar political offensive led by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and heavily funded by billionaire out-of-state allies committed to spreading school choice nationwide.

Six of the Republican House members Abbott targeted for opposing his school choice initiative were defeated in the March 5 primary election, and four others were thrown into a May runoff. Abbott said last week that his side is within two votes of enacting a school choice program in Texas.

“Even individuals who voted against school choice who won need to rethink their position in light of Abbott’s success on the issue,” said Matt Rinaldi, outgoing chair of the Texas Republican Party. “It’s sure to pass after these election results.”

Similar dynamics have been on display over the past two years in other states where rural opponents, sometimes aligned with labor groups and teachers unions, have sought unsuccessfully to head off the widening push. School choice can come through vouchers, refundable tax credits or education savings accounts.

In Georgia, lawmakers sent an expanded school voucher plan to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last week for his expected signature after proponents overcame years of opposition from rural Republicans allied with Democrats.

In Oklahoma, Tom Newell, a former Republican state legislator who works for a foundation that advocates for school choice, said rural resistance has steadily diminished in that state, too, enabling lawmakers to equip parents with education tax credits that became effective this year.

Rural Texas educators who have long opposed school choice are now bracing for it. “We really are the heart, soul and backbone of Texas,” said Randy Willis, executive director of the Texas Association of Rural School Districts, which has long opposed school choice. “We’re going to be left with a lot less resources as this progresses and goes through.”

In the small Texas Panhandle community of Booker, which has two blinking traffic lights and is closer to Cheyenne, Wyoming, than the state capital of Austin, school Superintendent Mike Lee has similar concerns.

“In all likelihood, that makes it where Abbott could pass vouchers,” Lee said of the primary election results.

Like many other rural school leaders, Lee said any loss of funding would make it even harder for his district to pay for basic operations and new, state-mandated safety programs launched in response to school shootings.

‘Game changer:’ Amendment for public dollars to nonpublic schools clears General Assembly

Primary battles

Despite the concerns of school officials such as Willis and Lee, school choice proponents say the rapid spread of the concept in Texas and other states dismantles the perception that rural residents oppose it.

“There’s been a myth in Texas that rural Republicans do not want school choice,” said Genevieve Collins, state director of the Texas branch of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group. Voters “put that myth to bed” in the recent Republican primary, she told Stateline.

Abbott said during a speech last week that parents frequently approached him on the campaign trail “begging” and “pleading” for school choice. “Any Republican House member who was voting against school choice was voting against the voice of the Republicans who voted in that primary,” he said.

School choice advocates argue that giving families public education dollars to pay for private school allows everybody — not just the wealthy — to choose the school that is best for their child. Though most Republicans support school choice and most Democrats oppose it, the issue doesn’t break cleanly along party lines: Just as some rural Republicans oppose vouchers, some Black and Hispanic Democrats support them, arguing that families should have an alternative if their local public schools are substandard.

“When you look at this, you can see that the majority of parents want school choice. They just want to be empowered with the decisions of their children’s future,” Hillary Hickland, a mother of four who defeated Republican incumbent state Rep. Hugh Shine of Temple, said of the primary results. Shine was one of 21 Republicans who voted to take vouchers out of the education bill last year, according to The Texas Tribune, and the governor endorsed Hickland.

“I think the arguments against school choice are based in fear and control. Ultimately, we have to do what’s best for the students. That’s the purpose of education,” said Hickland, who added: “For the majority of families, public school will always be right and best, and that’s great. We’re not giving up on our public schools.”

Janis Holt, a former teacher in the Silsbee Independent School District northeast of Houston, defeated incumbent Republican state Rep. Ernest Bailes, another voucher opponent who earned Abbott’s ire. Holt said she is reassuring rural superintendents in her district that she is a staunch supporter of both public school funding and school choice.

“We’re going to make sure that we protect the students that will be in our public schools, our teachers and administrators, but will also give parents opportunities to get their kids out of a failing school when they need to,” Holt said.

Republican state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, one of the House members targeted by Abbott, hasn’t wavered from his opposition to school choice initiatives. VanDeaver survived in the first primary round on March 5 but wound up in a May 28 runoff against an opponent backed by the governor.

“I’m just going to try to dodge all the bombs that are dropped on me and keep working to get a positive message out there and make sure everybody understands what’s at stake,” said VanDeaver, a former school superintendent.

He fears Abbott’s school choice drive will redirect billions of dollars a year from rural Texas school districts to urban and suburban ones. “The economies of the small communities are struggling as it is,” he said. “There’s just a lot of reasons that something like this is bad for rural Texas.”

Rapid spread

School choice programs have spread rapidly in recent years, aided by groups such as the American Federation for Children, which was founded by the billionaire family of former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Americans for Prosperity, affiliated with the conservative billionaire Koch family.

“Nationally we really saw that momentum take off a couple of years ago,” said Chantal Lovell of EdChoice, a nonprofit group that tracks and promotes school choice. “After 2023 there was no stopping it, and it’s clear that universal educational choice isn’t a fleeting trend, but here to stay.”

As many as 73 programs have been implemented in 32 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including 11 with a comprehensive statewide reach and 62 that serve various portions of the population, according to EdChoice.

Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a program into law earlier this month, and a bill is awaiting the governor’s signature in Wyoming.

Texas emerged as the most closely watched school choice battleground after Abbott last year made the issue one of his top priorities and called repeated special sessions in an attempt to overcome opposition from a coalition of rural Republicans aligned with Democrats.

Abbott unleashed millions of dollars from his campaign funds and traveled into the home counties of resistant Republicans after a school choice initiative collapsed in the Texas House.

Other dynamics were also at work, including endorsements by former President Donald Trump, who has equated school choice with civil rights, and Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sought to settle scores against House members for initiating an unsuccessful effort to oust him through impeachment.

Big money

An avalanche of campaign dollars from both inside and outside the state helped propel Abbott’s offensive, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit research organization that tracks political spending.

Billionaire?Jeff Yass, a megadonor investor based in Pennsylvania and one of the nation’s leading school choice advocates,?gave?the governor’s campaign more than $6 million, which Abbott officials described as the “largest single donation in Texas history.”

Abbott, who is not up for reelection until 2026, was one of the biggest spenders in the undertaking, drawing $6.4 million from his campaign fund to help finance opposition expenditures against incumbents on his hit list.

The AFC Victory Fund, a super PAC the American Federation for Children created in September, directed its resources into 20 Republican primary races in Texas, opposing 13 Republican incumbents, supporting six others and financing a 20th candidate for an open seat, according to Scott Jensen, a former Wisconsin House speaker who is now a senior adviser to the American Federation for Children.

For many of the targeted legislators, the political attack was insurmountable. “We gave it everything we had, but you can’t overcome being outspent over 4-to-1,” said Republican state Rep. Travis Clardy, who lost to Joanne Shofner, former president of the Nacogdoches County Republican Women.

Among other things, targeted incumbents said, the AFC Victory Fund financed a bombardment of mailings and ads that often went beyond school choice to focus on other issues, such as being lax on border security. One mailing was fashioned like a wanted poster.

Republican state Rep. Drew Darby, who prevailed over his challenger and doesn’t have a Democratic opponent, said the tactics were out of bounds and called Abbott’s involvement in his race “sad” for the state. “That’s a situation I’ve never seen in my political career,” said Darby.

Jensen said the AFC Victory Fund spent almost $4 million in Texas and plans to spend $15 million nationally on state school choice campaigns during the 2024 election cycle.

“Welcome to politics,” Jensen said of the criticism from targeted lawmakers. “These guys are long-term incumbents. I’m sorry if they haven’t been in a tough race for a while, but everything we said was accurate. And I don’t think any of it was misleading or unfair.”

At least 70% of the AFC Victory Fund’s communications, he said, focused on school choice.

In the Robert Lee Independent School District in West Texas, which has one campus and about 250 students, Superintendent Aaron Hood fears the potential impact on his district.

As with other districts, inflation has put a whammy on operating expenses, leaving Robert Lee with a budget deficit for the second year in a row. And because state funding is based on average daily attendance, if any students were to transfer to a private school under a school choice plan, Robert Lee would face a drop in state funds. (The nearest private school is 30 miles away, in San Angelo.)

For now, Hood says, it’s a bit too early to assess the potential impact of the primary results. But if Abbott prevails in the next round of electoral combat, he said, “then I would say that choice is coming to Texas.”

Jimmy Cloutier of OpenSecrets provided data on campaign contributions and expenditures for this article.

This article is republished from Stateline, a sister publication of the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom national network.

Robbie Fletcher was a teacher and principal in Martin County before becoming superintendent of the Lawrence County schools. (Screenshot)

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Board of Education has named Lawrence County Schools Superintendent Robbie Fletcher as the next state commissioner of education.?

The announcement was made during a special meeting of the board Thursday afternoon.?

However, Fletcher still must be confirmed by the Senate, according to a new law passed last year. Pending his confirmation, he has a start date of July 1 and will receive an annual salary of $265,000. The Kentucky Lantern obtained Fletcher’s contract with the board via an open records request.?

The other finalists were Eminence Independent Schools Superintendent Buddy Berry and Kentucky Association of School Superintendents Executive Director Jim Flynn. Before announcing three finalists for the position, the board received 15 applications. The board’s decision was unanimous.?

Fletcher said during the board meeting that he will do his best to honor the trust given to schools by students’ parents and guardians.

?“I sincerely believe there is no greater compliment, no greater honor, no greater responsibility than when a parent or guardian allows another person to be a part of their child’s life,” he said. “When a child sits on one of our buses, or walks through the doorway of one of our schools, a parent or guardian is saying, ‘I trust you with my greatest accomplishment as a person.'”?

Fletcher has been the superintendent of Lawrence County Schools since 2014. Before that, he was a part-time faculty member at Asbury University and a principal, assistant principal and mathematics teacher in Martin County. Fletcher earned a doctorate in education and a superintendency certification from Morehead State University, a master’s in supervision and administration from the University of Kentucky, and a bachelor’s in mathematics from Morehead State University.

Former Education Commissioner Jason Glass left the role in September amid tensions with Republicans in Frankfort. At the time, Glass, who is now at Western Michigan University, said he did not want to be part of implementing a controversial anti-transgender law that limited how schools can teach about human sexuality and gender identity and freed adult staff to misgender students.

Robin Fields Kinney, who was an associate commissioner of the Office of Finance and Operation within KDE, has been serving as the interim education commissioner.?

In the current legislative session, Republicans in Frankfort are looking to have more oversight of the Kentucky Department of Education and the state education board. The Senate has passed a bill creating partisan elections for Kentucky Board of Education members. The House has approved a special audit of KDE, which includes reviewing “diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” “academic standards,” “state board oversight of the commissioner of education” and more.??

After Glass’ departure, the governor said it would be “much more challenging” to find a new education commissioner this time around.?

KBE Chair Sharon Porter Robinson congratulated Fletcher and said the board is ready to support his Senate confirmation after making a selection “with great confidence after great due diligence.” After Thursday, there are seven days left in the General Assembly’s legislative calendar.

“After thoughtful consideration of the feedback collected from numerous Kentucky stakeholders and the priorities of the KBE, we saw a leader who embodies the qualities of an ambassador, states person, an expert instructional leader, a strong organizational leader and a visionary innovator,” she said of Fletcher. “We are confident that Dr. Fletcher meets these requirements, and we are excited about the future of education in the Commonwealth under his leadership.”

Senate Republican Whip Sen. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, said in a statement that Glass was “focused far more on his personal political views than he did educational outcomes” and that should “not be the case moving forward.”

Wilson, who is the sponsor of the bill to create partisan elections for the state school board, said he was “encouraged by the initial reports” about Fletcher.?

“Robbie Fletcher is from right here in Kentucky and is very familiar with the needs of students across the commonwealth,” Wilson said. “I and the rest of the legislature hope to meet him soon and, if confirmed, to work with him and the rest of the KDE on improving Kentucky’s educational achievements to secure a vibrant and working Kentucky future.”

The board approved McPherson & Jacobson, LLC, as the firm to conduct the search in December. It also chose Fletcher as its preferred candidate in a Tuesday meeting, but he was not publicly named at the time due to contract negotiations.

Kentucky’s education commissioner is the chief state school officer and chief executive officer for KDE.?The commissioner recommends and implements KBE policies while also directing KDE in the management of the state’s 171 public school districts, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, Kentucky School for the Blind and the 50 state operated area technology centers.

Fletcher’s contract

“I almost think that typing in the world we live (in) would be more important than the cursive writing,” said McKee Republican Timmy Truett, a school principal. He voted for the bill. (Getty Images)

FRANKFORT — A Republican senator wants to ensure that students become proficient in cursive handwriting in Kentucky’s public elementary schools.?

Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, of Smithfield, presented Senate Bill 167, which would require cursive writing to be taught “as a course of study” in elementary schools, to the House Education Committee Tuesday. The Senate has already passed the bill.

Tichenor said she filed it as a response to the handwriting style not being part of Common Core Standards, which began in 2010 as a way to bring cohesion to the way states taught English and math. ?More than 20 states, including California and New Hampshire, have adopted directives to require teaching cursive writing.?

Kentucky’s standards for elementary education already include instruction in cursive and print handwriting.

Under the Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing cursive writing is taught to second- and third-graders, and ?print letters to kindergarteners and first graders.?

State law gives school superintendents authority over instructional resources and assessments for meeting goals. School councils are also required to adopt a program consistent with policies from their local boards of education. Principals are required to ensure the implementation of the program in school curriculum.?

Tichenor’s bill says that beginning in the 2025-26 school year, “cursive writing shall be included as a course of study in all elementary schools and shall be designed to ensure proficiency in cursive writing by the end of grade five.”?

Tichenor said that learning cursive can improve literacy skills. A 2020 study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that writing in cursive activates different electrical activity in the brain for students compared to when they type.?

“Every grandma out there who sends a birthday card is going to be so happy that their grandkids can read their birthday cards,” Tichenor said.?

While Tichenor received a lot of positive feedback, some representatives raised concerns about implementing the requirement in schools.?

Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said that she was often contacted as a former school board member about requests to teach cursive. She did raise concerns about the requirement becoming another burden for teachers, especially those who might not feel comfortable teaching the material and as Kentucky faces a shortage of teachers in classrooms.?

McKee Republican Rep. Timmy Truett, a school principal, said he sees education trending toward technology over written assignments. He gave an example of a statewide writing test that is now submitted on a computer.?

“I almost think that typing in the world we live (in) would be more important than the cursive writing,” Truett said.?

Tichenor responded that cursive writing encourages students to use motor skills. She also said she has not had a lot of teachers reach out to her with Willner’s concerns.?

Both Willner and Truett ultimately voted for the bill. The House Education Committee forwarded the bill to the full House with 15 yes votes, one no and a pass vote.?

Tichenor’s legislation must now be approved by? the House before it can be considered by Gov. Andy Beshear for signature.?

A spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education said it does not have a comment on the legislation at this time.?

About 900 companies, trade associations and other groups registered to lobby during the 2024 session of the Kentucky legislature held at the Capitol in Frankfort. Their combined spending was roughly $1 million higher than the previous record set the year before. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — With eight days left in this session and a slew of decisions pending, the Kentucky House and Senate reconvene Thursday afternoon after a three-day break.

High on lawmakers’ to-do list will be finalizing the next two-year state budget.

The Senate also must consider changes to the tax code approved with little public notice by the House last week after Rep. Jason Petrie, chairman of the House budget committee, converted House Bill 8, an 11-page “shell bill,” into 124 pages of wide-ranging provisions affecting state revenue.

One of the provisions would pave the way for income tax cuts in future sessions by changing the 2022 law that created a process for determining when the state can afford additional reductions. Republicans lowered the rate in 2022 and 2023 in hopes of eventually eliminating the state income tax.

The 2022 law prevented another cut this year because one of its two fiscal metrics was not satisfied. Petrie’s tweaks would make it easier to trigger consideration of reductions in the income tax rate by the legislature in the future.

League of Women Voters asks that public have 24 hours to review budget

Study: Kentuckians increasingly excluded from lawmaking process by fast-track maneuvers

Leaders from both chambers met in a budget conference committee earlier this week to begin hashing out differences in the two spending plans.

Among other sticking points, negotiators must agree on the level of state support to help Kentucky’s beleaguered child care providers survive the end of federal pandemic aid. The Senate also has proposed spending more of the state’s record surplus on projects than has the House.

On Wednesday, the League of Women Voters of Kentucky called on the legislature to “ensure the public has at least 24 hours to review” the negotiated budget bills before the House and Senate vote on them. The League last year released a study showing the ?General Assembly in the 21st century has increasingly fast-tracked bills, using maneuvers that shut out citizens from participating in the process.

Lawmakers also must decide which constitutional amendments to put to voters in November. Four amendments are allowed on the ballot every two years. Two amendments already have been approved by both chambers: One would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools with public dollars. The other would preempt those who aren’t U.S. citizens from voting in Kentucky elections.?

Still up in the air is a Senate bill that would tie Kentucky to coal-generated power over the objections of environmentalists and the state’s investor-owned utilities. It’s awaiting action in the House.

A House bill that critics say would put a gaping loophole in the state’s open records law is awaiting action in the Senate.

Both chambers have voted to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Kentucky’s public universities and colleges. The House version went further than what was passed by the Senate, which now must consider the House overhaul of its bill.

Plus, for the first time, under a law enacted last year, the Senate must confirm an education commissioner, which it is expected to do before the session ends. The state Board of Education began contract negotiations with its choice for the post on Monday without saying which of three finalists it is.

What’s moving, what’s not

So far, both the House and Senate have approved a sweeping crime bill that will mean much longer sentences before Kentuckians convicted of violent crimes can be considered for parole, as well as create new crimes including “unlawful camping” which critics say will criminalize homelessness.

Proposals that have yet to make it out of the starting gate include adding exceptions in cases of rape and incest to Kentucky’s abortion ban, establishing protections for in vitro fertilization, making substantial changes in certificate of need laws and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s requests for an 11% raise for public school employees and funding universal pre-kindergarten.?

Beshear has vetoed one bill that preempted local governments from outlawing housing discrimination based on a renter’s source of income. The Republican-controlled legislature quickly overrode Beshear’s veto.??

Here is a rundown of where some bills stand as the session nears an end:

Child care?

Lawmakers in the House and Senate have filed bills aimed at addressing Kentucky’s child care crisis.?

The largest of those proposals, Sen. Danny Carroll’s Horizons Act, has passed a Senate committee but has not yet been considered on the floor.?

Another bill, which originated in the House and encourages local governments to examine available zoning for child care centers, is much closer to getting through the legislative process. House Bill 561 has passed the House and a Senate Committee, and can proceed to the Senate floor.?

The House and Senate are in talks over a compromise budget, so the final investment into child care is not clear.?

Abortion?

Democrat and Republican bills seeking to reform Kentucky’s strict abortion bans — including adding exceptions for rape and incest — have failed to advance.?

Senate Bill 99, filed by Democrat Sen. David Yates to add rape and incest exceptions to the ban, hasn’t received a committee assignment. Likewise, Democrat Rep. Lindsey Burke’s House Bill 428 to restore abortion access did not get a committee assignment.?

On the Republican side, Rep. Ken Fleming filed House Bill 711 to both add rape and incest exceptions as well as clarify that physicians could treat ectopic pregnancies, incomplete miscarriages and lethal fetal anomalies. His bill has not received a committee assignment.?

IVF?

Two Democrats and a Republican filed bills seeking to protect access to in vitro fertilization following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children.?

Those bills have stayed stagnant, though. Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong’s Senate Bill 301 was sent to the Judiciary Committee on February 29, but has not received a hearing. Sen. Whitney Westerfield’s Senate Bill 373 was sent to the Health Services Committee on March 1 but has not moved further. Louisville Democrat Rep. Daniel Grossberg’s House Bill 757 has not been assigned to a committee.?

Certificate of Need?

As of March 12, none of the bills seeking to reform Kentucky’s certificate of need laws (CON) have received a floor vote.?

In the House, these bills have not moved:?

• HB202 – Stuck in Committee on Committees since Jan. 9.?
• HB203 – Stuck in Committee on Committees since Jan. 9.?
• HB204 – Was sent to Health Services, where it failed to pass on March 21.?
• HB199 passed a committee, and is awaiting floor vote while the sponsor works with the Kentucky Hospital Association to address its concerns.?

In the Senate, these bills have not moved:?

• SB137 was sent to Health Services but has been stagnant since Jan. 29.?
• SB305 was sent to Health Services and has been stagnant since Feb. 29.?
• SB103 was sent to Health Services but has been stagnant since Jan. 12.??

A resolution seeking to reestablish the Certificate of Need Taskforce, which in 2023 studied the issue but concluded that it needed to study it further, was filed on Jan. 4. It was immediately sent to Health Services, where it has stayed since.

Education

Many education bills are awaiting action in the legislature.

In the Senate, these bills have not had committee hearings:?

• SB 205, a bill that would give Kentucky public school teachers up to 20 days of maternity leave.?

In the House, these bills have not had committee hearings:?

• SB 1, which sets up an endowed fund for collaborative research between public universities?
• SB 2, a continuation of a 2019 school safety act that aims to provide more access to mental health resources while also allowing schools to hire “guardians” to fill vacant school resource officer positions, has not received a committee hearing
• SB 8, which would create partisan elections for the Kentucky Board of Education
• SB 4, which changes how teachers would be paid for sick days upon retirement.?

Government

Lawmakers have proposed several changes to state and local government processes. A House bill filed after U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced his plans to step down from the role passed out of the Senate State and Local Government Committee Wednesday. The legislation, HB 622, would allow winners of special elections to fill U.S. Senate vacancies to fill unexpired terms.?

That same committee also forwarded HB 513, a bill that gives the General Assembly oversight over permanent displays in the Capitol Rotunda, including statues.?

In the House, these bills have not had a committee hearing:?

• SB 10, which would propose a constitutional amendment to move Kentucky’s statewide elections to coincide with presidential elections.
• SB 80, which would remove university-issued ID cards as a primary form of voter identification.?
• SB 126, which proposes a constitutional amendment to limit governors’ pardon and sentence commutation powers around elections
• HB 4, another constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly the power to call itself into a special session?

In the Senate, these bills have not had a committee hearing so far:?

• HB 509, a bill that advocates warn could add loopholes to state open records laws, has not had a committee hearing
• HB 626, which would make interrupting legislative proceedings a crime.?

Energy, environment

Having already been passed by the Senate and under consideration in the House, SB 349, backed by Senate President Robert Stivers, would create new barriers to utilities retiring fossil fuel-fired power plants, something environmentalists and utilities alike say could burden ratepayers with the cost of keeping open aging, uneconomical coal-fired power plants. Stivers, R-Manchester, and bill sponsor Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, have argued the bill is needed to protect the reliability of the electricity supply, an assertion rebuffed by utilities.?