Education

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms, restrict digital instruction time for students in kindergarten to grade 5 to 45 minutes per student per day; exclude designated uses of technology from the restriction; direct in-person elementary schools to require at least 70% of student assignments to be written; require daily access to traditional learning material; require incorporation of physical manipulatives into math and science instruction; prohibit replacing primary instruction with instructional technology for designated elementary subjects; prohibit homework that requires instructional technology; prohibit requiring students to carry instructional technology to and from school daily; prohibit replacing library time with digital reading labs; require each school district to adopt a written technology-use policy; require school districts to publish an annual technology use report that includes designated items to its website.

This bill limits the number of students from outside a school district who can enroll in that district's virtual school programs. It requires districts to set a policy for nonresident enrollment and allows them to charge tuition fees for students who do not live in the district. The law establishes enrollment caps, starting with a statewide limit of 1% of total student enrollment and a district-specific limit of 10% of each district's student enrollment, with specific exceptions for military dependents, siblings, and students with medical needs. School districts must report enrollment data to the state, and the department will monitor and enforce these limits, with a provision that districts must stop accepting nonresident virtual students after June 30, 2028, unless further permission is granted.

Amend KRS 158.200 to require the board of education of a local school district to allow students to attend moral instruction when the moral instruction offering complies with the requirements enumerated; create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel a board of education to comply; create a cause of action to permit a qualified individual to file a civil action against a board of education for injunctive relief arising from a violation of this Act; permit recovery of monetary damages for a willful and intentional violation; waive sovereign, governmental, and qualified immunity; prohibit retaliation.

Amend KRS 158.192 to require a local board of education to allow parents and guardians an opportunity to orally recite passages from materials, programs, or events that are subject to appeal; require immediate removal of the material, program, or event if the board denies a parent or guardian the opportunity to orally recite passages.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to require the Council on Postsecondary Education to promulgate administrative regulations to prohibit the use of public funds towards a degree in a low-earning outcome program; require the council to provide an annual report on the implementation of the prohibition to the Legislative Research Commission.

Amend various statutes to remove references to public charter schools; repeal various sections of KRS Chapter 160 and KRS 161.141 relating to public charter schools.

HB 28 repeals Kentucky's Education Opportunity Account Program by removing its associated tax credit (KRS 141.522) from the state's tax code. This bill eliminates the specific tax credit that allowed taxpayers to claim benefits under the Education Opportunity Account Program. The change directly affects individuals or entities that previously claimed this credit, discontinuing the program's tax incentive component. The bill focuses solely on removing this provision from existing tax credit ordering rules, with no new program or funding established.

Amend KRS 132.017, relating to the process for a recall of a local ad valorem tax rate, to define "school nickel tax rate"; require a petition process for recalling the levy of a school nickel tax rate; remove other taxes levied by local governmental entities from the petition process requirements; require an ad valorem tax levied by a local governmental entity and a general tax rate levied by a local board of education to be voted upon by the voters if the tax rate produces more than 4% in revenues over the revenues produced by the compensating tax rate; require the suspension of the ordinance, order, resolution, or motion levying the tax rate until after the required election; allow a local governmental entity or a local board of education to cancel a required recall election by reconsidering the levy and instead levying a tax rate that produces no more than 4% in revenues over the revenues produced by the compensating tax rate; specify ballot and public notification requirements for the election; provide that if a tax rate is recalled, the compensating tax rate shall be levied; amend KRS 68.245, 75A.050, 132.018, 132.023, 132.027, and 160.470 to conform; make technical changes; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2027.

Amend KRS 65.013 to define terms; expand the prohibition on using tax dollars to advocate for or against a public question on the ballot to prohibit using any resources, and to explicitly apply prohibition to school districts, regional educational cooperatives, and recalls on a ballot; establish a criminal penalty and a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person found guilty of violating the prohibition; create a cause of action for a citizen aggrieved by a violation of the prohibition; establish a statute of limitations to commence suit and the appropriate venue; provide when the suit accrues; specify damages recoverable per violation; allow for class action; include a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person held civilly liable; amend KRS 48.025 and 132.017 to conform.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; require the Kentucky Department of Education to establish an approved list of reading curriculum and interventions that do not use a three-cueing system; prohibit school districts from using any curriculum or program that employs a three-cueing system; prohibit the use of a three-cueing system in teacher professional development; require the Educational Professional Standards Board to promulgate administrative regulations establishing curriculum for each approved educator preparation program; amend KRS 158.307 to require rather than allow local boards of education to develop a policy on dyslexia; require rather than allow the policy to include listed items; amend KRS 164.304 to require postsecondary institutions offering teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia by the 2027-2028 school year, rather than the instruction being contingent on funding availability; amend KRS 164.306 to specify that educator preparation programs shall use evidence-based reading instruction and intervention programs and shall not provide instruction on a three-cueing system; amend KRS 161.028 to require the board to include in the standards set for teacher preparation programs that the programs shall use evidence-based reading instruction and intervention programs and shall not provide instruction on a three-cueing system.