Session Results: Primary and Secondary Education

Throughout the 2025 Regular Session, we worked to create meaningful and impactful legislation geared towards protecting and supporting our students across Kentucky. The General Assembly is dedicated to ensuring that every Kentuckian has the opportunity to pursue an education in our Commonwealth. After all, education provides the foundation for, and fosters, long term success. 

Before session began, House leadership split the former House Education Committee into two committees, the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee and the House Postsecondary Committee, in hopes that doing so would allow members to focus on the unique needs of each area. With the 2025 Regular Session behind us and the interim meeting period just weeks away, I would like to highlight some of these important measures from the House Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Education that were passed into law: 

Teacher Red Tape Reduction Act: HB 48 creates and updates guidelines and frequency for mandatory professional development training and summative evaluations of tenured certified staff. The measure also requires that teachers be provided copies of employment contracts upon request and requires the posting of information about suicide awareness and child abuse and neglect.

Ensuring Continuity of Education Services: HB 132 allows students admitted to inpatient facilities to receive home and hospital instructional services from the day of admittance.

Challenging Gifted and Talented Learners: HB 190 requires local boards of education to develop and publish a district plan for advanced coursework and accelerated learning of students in grades 4-12. 

Streamlining Statutory Language on Dual Credit Scholarship Programs: HB 193 provides up to two career and technical education dual credit courses per academic year and two general education dual credit courses during the 11th and 12th grades. 

Limiting Cell Phone Disruptions in Public Schools: HB 208 requires school districts to develop a policy to limit cell phone usage during instructional time and to block social media access on school internet. 

Promoting Early Intervention to Ensure Long-Term Academic Success: HB 240 requires end-of-year reading screenings for young students and mandates retention or intervention for those not meeting benchmarks.

Addressing Educational Days Missed Due to Disaster: HB 241 allows schools to make up disaster-related missed days through extended hours and caps virtual program enrollment and student-teacher ratios.

Early Identification of Schools Needing Support: HB 298 requires the Kentucky Department of Education to annually review schools and to designate. Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) status under the definition required by Federal law. 

Improving Financial Literacy in High School Students: HB 342 requires Kentucky high school students to complete a standalone financial literacy course, emphasizing document review and cursive signatures, starting with the 2025–26 freshman class. 

Providing Flexibility for School District Transportation Issues: HB 430 allows a school district transporting 48 or fewer students per day to develop an alternative plan and schedule to meet the Kentucky Department of Education’s school bus safety instruction requirement.

Empowering Parent and Local Control Over Education: SB 68 expands site-based councils’ authority over key educational decisions and enhances transparency and alignment with state goals.

Building Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect: SB 120 requires school administrators and coaches to be trained on the duty and procedures to report suspected child maltreatment and mandates student-athlete consent forms to include information on the mandatory reporting law the right to report child dependency, neglect, or abuse.

Giving School Districts Greater Flexibility/School Innovation Act: SB 207 establishes a waiver process through the Kentucky Board of Education to allow schools to seek exemptions from certain state laws or regulations to better serve students. 

Improving Disaster Response in Education: SCR 43 acknowledges Kentucky’s support for better planning to ensure provision of counseling resources in Kentucky schools, districts, and postsecondary institutions following crises, including natural disasters, school shootings, and other public emergencies.