The General Assembly will meet today and Thursday when it could overturn any of Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes and pass any last-minute bills. Sen. President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, has said he expects two “very structured days” and that legislators would likely overturn the vetoes.

The most closely watched education related veto is HB 9, the charter school bill. The bill would fund charter schools with state and local tax money, and require two such schools to open – one in Louisville and one in northern Kentucky.

The bill allows local boards in districts with fewer than 7,500 students to effectively veto a charter school within their boundaries. If a charter school application is rejected in a district with more than 7,500 students, those seeking the charter would be able to appeal to the Kentucky Board of Education as in current law.

In announcing his veto, Beshear said he believes charter schools are wrong for Kentucky.

“They take taxpayer dollars away from the already underfunded public schools in the Commonwealth,” he said. “And our taxpayer dollars should not be redirected to for-profit entities that run charter schools.”

Beshear also noted the provision requiring tax revenue raised by local school boards to be transferred to charters schools is likely unconstitutional.

“Kentucky’s Constitution makes it clear that General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the state,” he said. “Common schools are public schools and public taxpayer dollars, I believe, under the Constitution, can only go to public schools.”

Another constitutional problem is that the bill singles out Jefferson County and northern Kentucky, he said. Courts have found that HB 563 (2021), which allowed for scholarship tax credits in some counties, violated the state’s constitution.

HB 9 passed the House with 51 votes. In order to override the veto, the House could not lose any votes. Three members were absent when the House voted. If the House overrides the veto, it would then go to the Senate where at least 20 members would have to vote to override. The bill initially passed the Senate with 22 votes with two members absent.

The legislature will also consider whether to overturn Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of Senate Bill 1, which makes changes to school-based decision making councils.

The bill, which in its initial form was KSBA’s top priority bill for the session, was greatly changed in the House. The changes included giving school employees extra sick days if they were ill with COVID this school year. SB 138, which dictates how social studies and controversial topics can be taught, would also change the balance of power between the Jefferson County school board and the superintendent.

The bill, even in its amended form, gives superintendents final approval of principal hiring after consultation with SBDMs and final approval over curriculum development.

In announcing his veto, Beshear criticized legislators for passing a bill requiring public comment at board meetings, then in his view taking decision-making away from parents.

“They wanted more time for people to be able to make public comments, but they're moving those decisions more and more to the superintendent that leaves out parents, and I am the parent of kids in our public schools,” he said.

Beshear also objected to the inclusion of SB 138, particularly the requirement to teach Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech, “A time for choosing.”

“To put that above Dwight D. Eisenhower’s message to the troops on D-Day is meaning we’re not trying to push history forward, we’re pushing politics,” he said. “I think that’s wrong.”

Sen. President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said he expects the legislature to overturn the veto.

“Superintendents, who are the ones that will ultimately be sanctioned if there is something wrong in the school system, need to have more authority within the system for which they are held responsible,” he said.

KSBA has introduced new board team resources for managing conversations on equity and DEI efforts within our schools. Districts have come under increased scrutiny on topics related to critical race theory (CRT) and concerns are being raised at board meetings. CRT has been a frequent subject of public discussion and media coverage, so it is important that boards have a shared understanding of key terms that are garnering so much attention as well as the prevalent misinformation that is feeding such concerns. School boards should be equipped to address the controversy without becoming a part of it. View/download “Understanding equity, DEI and critical race theory: Definitions, differences and discussions.”

There has been much discussion in Frankfort about compensation and raises for school board employees due to the legislative session and state budget, but also because it's the time of the year when boards set salary schedules. Many school boards are already examining their finances ahead of adopting tentative working budgets, which state law requires by May 30, and which must include revenue and expenditure estimates along with next year’s salaries.

In fact, state law requires each board set employee compensation levels through adoption of a “single salary schedule,” setting the amounts of salary and step/rank increases. The specific rules governing the process are found in local board policies and procedures at 03.121/03.221, and 03.121 AP.1/03.221 AP.1. State law also empowers each local board to craft its own cafeteria plan of fringe benefits for employees, which is addressed in policy at 03.1213.

As a matter of local control, the salary levels, extra duty stipends, step increases and fringe benefits/optional insurance offerings vary across our 171 districts. This is not the case with state government employees, who all work for one employer in a unified personnel classification and salary scale/benefits system. The difference between local board employees and state government employees is also evident in the frequency of raises, with many boards approving annual raises even in years when the state has not provided any raises to its employees. In 10 of the last 12 years, the state did not provide salary increases to state employees, that leaves a lot of ground for them to make up for with state employees from social workers to corrections officers.

Board members may receive more questions about this than normal in the weeks ahead, so KSBA encourages board teams to work with their finance officers in the weeks ahead to proactively provide clear information to their employees about their local policies cited above, and the procedures used to adopt salary schedules and tentative working budgets.

KSBA will participate in Kentucky Gives Day 2022 on Tuesday, May 10, to once again benefit the KSBA Educational Foundation’s First Degree college and CTE scholarship programs. #KyGives22 is an annual 24-hour online fundraising event benefiting nonprofits across the state. We last participated in Kentucky Gives Day in 2019 and raised more than $5,000. We hope to double that total this year.

KSBA chose to pause its fall/winter fundraising campaign following December’s devastating tornadoes, so this May 10 day of giving will be critical to the immediate future of KSBA’s First Degree scholarships. KSBA challenges our members and friends to raise awareness and make an online gift on May 10. Stay tuned for more information.

Save the date for KSBA’s 2022 Summer Leadership Institute, July 15-16 at the Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington. KSBA looks forward to welcoming school board members, administrators and education industry leaders for two days of informative sessions and networking.

KSBA is now accepting session proposals for Saturday (July 16). The deadline to submit a proposal is April 22. Visit KSBA’s Summer Leadership Institute page to submit an online RFP form and review session proposal guidelines. Online registration for the 2022 Summer Leadership Institute will open on May 18 at the same link.

KSBA’s full 2022 slate of “Learn and Earn” webinars kicked off this month, offering relevant topics to district leaders in a convenient, short format. Each Learn and Earn webinar counts for 1 hour of board training credit. Dates are listed below. Visit KSBA’s Learn and Earn web page for a full schedule, complete with session descriptions and registration links. Upcoming trainings include:

KSBA’s 16th Annual Federal and State Law Update will be held from 9 a.m. until noon (ET) on Thursday, June 2, 2022. This year’s event will once again be held as a virtual conference, offering participants a recap, board policy/procedure updates and Open Meetings/Open Records Act (OMA/ORA) and federal law updates.

The webinar is strongly recommended for school board members and superintendents, and is also useful information for board attorneys, assistant superintendents, school/district administrators, finance officers, etc. Registration is limited to 100 viewers at a cost of $150 per person. Participants are eligible for 3 hours of training credit – board member, CLE and EILA. (CLE and EILA approval has been requested.) The training is also good for Level 4/5 elective credit for KSBA members participating in the association’s Academy of Studies.

This is the only opportunity for a full recap of the legislative session and its impact on school boards. View a full agenda and begin easy online registration for KSBA’s Federal and State Law Update.

Paducah Independent School Board Chairman Dr. Carl LeBuhn was the recipient of the inaugural Kentucky School Board Member of the Year Award, which was announced at the 2022 KSBA Annual Conference.

The April Kentucky School Advocate features an in-depth story on LeBuhn, who is an infectious disease physician. Read more about LeBuhn and his school board service in the April Advocate.

Also in the April Kentucky School Advocate:

This edition of KSBA Aware is made possible in part