One of the leaders of the GOP-controlled Kentucky Senate has filed a bill that once again moves oversight of the Jefferson County Public Schools from the school board to the board’s superintendent. It models a similar 2022 bill the Kentucky Supreme Court struck down last year.
Senate President Pro Tempore David Givens, R-Greensburg, told reporters after the Senate had adjourned Wednesday afternoon that while there are “no differences” between his Senate Bill 1 and the law struck down by the Kentucky Supreme Court, he’s confident this version will meet constitutional muster.
When the state’s highest court struck down the previous law that singled out Jefferson County Public Schools, Justice Angela McCormick Bisig wrote in the majority opinion that justices were not saying “the General Assembly may never enact legislation addressed to only one particular type of county or form of county government, but rather only that it cannot do so unreasonably.”
Givens said SB 1 includes a long list of reasons why Jefferson County Public Schools should be treated differently through legislation.
“We open with 42 reasons very specifically of why this — the largest school district in the state, impacting the largest number of students and receiving the highest level of state general fund monies of any district in the state — should be treated differently,” Givens said. “On top of the education shortfalls, we’re now seeing the fiscal shortfalls.”
Those reasons listed in the legislation include that the district operates one of the “one of the largest public-sector budgets” in the state; that the school district operates a transportation system serving tens of thousands of students that has seen “repeated transportation failures”; and that the school district has a substantial and growing budget shortfall, “driven in part by undisciplined spending practices, reliance on temporary federal funds, and delayed corrective action.”
Jefferson County Public Schools is grappling with a $188 million shortfall in the 2026-2027 budget. The Jefferson County Board of Education voted Tuesday to accept a draft budget that implements $142 million in cuts including the closure of two elementary schools. The school district has also dealt with delayed buses for years in part because it struggled to recruit bus drivers. That longstanding issue, combined with a number of changes including newly-designed bus routes, led to disastrous results during the first day of school in 2023: some students did not get dropped off from school until 10 p.m. A U.S. Department of Justice probe found the delayed bus drop offs disproportionately impacted Black, Latino and multilingual students. The district’s spokespeople have said bus drop off times have since improved.
Neither Corrie Shull, the chair of the board of education for the school district, nor the district’s spokesperson, Caroyln Callahan, responded to an email requesting comment on the bill.
Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R-Smithfield) also touted the filing of another education bill, Senate Bill 3, which would require school districts in the state to publish various financial reports on their websites including the employee contract for each district superintendent. The bill would also specify dates for when a superintendent would have to present a draft budget to a school board, and such a budget would have to include a reserve fund worth 2% of the district’s budget.
“It’s really just about financial transparency, it’s about good stewardship, and it’s common sense measures that our taxpayers want to know, that their tax dollars that they work hard for are being utilized in the most responsible way to educate the students of Kentucky,” Tichenor said.
Fayette County Public Schools, the state’s second-largest school district serving Lexington, has wrestled with a budget shortfall. Tichenor said Wednesday afternoon she’s not spoken with Fayette County schools’ leadership about her bill. The Kentucky State Auditor’s office is conducting special examinations of both Jefferson County and Fayette County school systems.
Miranda Scully, a Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson, in an emailed statement said the district “respects the legislative process and the work of the Kentucky General Assembly.”
:We will continue to monitor all proposed legislation closely to understand its potential impact on our students and staff, and we remain committed to following all guidelines and mandates established at the state level,” Scully said.
The bills’ low numbers reflect that both SB 1 and SB 3 are considered priority legislation by the Kentucky Senate. Givens expects more education-related bills to be filed as the legislative session continues.
“Education policy is one of the biggest places that we have to operate in, and sadly enough, it’s one of the largest issues that we’ve seen shortfalls in,” Givens said.
This story was updated with a statement from Fayette County Public Schools.
Written by Liam Niemeyer. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
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