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A bill to protect students from teacher sexual misconduct unanimously passed the House Education Committee.
House Bill 275, filed by committee chairman Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would require school districts to fully investigate allegations of misconduct – even if the teacher resigns – ban nondisclosure agreements, require candidates to disclose investigations and improve background checks among other measures.
The bill, which Tipton also filed in 2023, was spurred by a Lexington Herald Leader investigation which found 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118 — 61% — lost their license due to sexual misconduct.
Kotomi Yokokura, a University of Kentucky student, testified Tuesday that she was a survivor of sexual abuse by a high school teacher. She also said her experience was not unique.
“I was not the first person to experience educator sexual misconduct in Kentucky. And I’m not the last,” she said. “This bill is important because it can prevent these teachers from being able to continue abusing students.”
The bill also requires the Kentucky Department of Education have training for teachers by 2025 on what is appropriate and inappropriate conduct and how to spot warning signs of grooming and sexual abuse. Teachers would have to repeat the training every five years.
Several lawmakers questioned how victims' names would be kept private if there cannot be nondisclosure agreements. Tipton said FERPA laws would prevent students' names from being released in the records.
“The intent of this language is to prevent a nondisclosure agreement between a school district and a teacher or employee as part of some type of settlement so this could be kept private, because we want this information to be out there,” he said.
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