FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- A bill granting Kentucky school districts up to 10 days of remote learning per school through the rest of the 2021-22 year cleared one of its last legislative hurdles Thursday.
Senate Bill 25, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, passed the House on an 84-9 vote Thursday. The legislation, which passed the House State Government Committee earlier Thursday, cleared the Senate on a 31-2 vote Tuesday. The Senate later Thursday concurred with changes made by the House to SB 25 and passed the amended legislation on a tighter 17-8 vote.
SB 25, which would take effect immediately upon becoming law, moves to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk as a number of school districts transition to nontraditional instruction amid a surge of record COVID-19 caseloads throughout the state.
Districts can use up to 10 days of nontraditional instruction each year. SB 25 would provide another 10 days of remote learning per school until June 30 and allow superintendents to assign individual groups, classes or schools to remote instruction if they experience significant absences related to COVID-19.
“This does provide flexibility for superintendents to make that decision and, once again, without completely shutting down an entire district,” Wise, a Campbellsville Republican and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said during Thursday’s committee hearing. “It's more of that surgical strike to do so within school walls.”
Jefferson County Public Schools will use four of its 10 nontraditional instruction days this week in hopes of reopening classrooms Jan. 18 after COVID-19 cases and exposures sent hundreds of employees into quarantine. Nearly 800 employees have active cases and 156 others are in quarantine as of 12 p.m. Thursday, according to JCPS data.
Hardin County Schools announced Thursday that it would use a nontraditional instruction day Friday with "a significant number" of positive cases among students and staff, Superintendent Teresa Morgan said in a news release. The district reported 215 active COVID-19 cases among students and staff as of 2:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Wise said he had received "no pushback at all" on SB 25 from education groups.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio, speaking to reporters Monday, said he saw potential relief for Kentucky's largest school system in SB 25, though "trying to surgically figure out ways to close certain schools and not others" in a district with 155 schools would pose challenges.
The House State Government Committee also included several extensions of COVID-19 executive orders and emergency regulations related to the pandemic in its amended version of SB 25.
School districts would be allowed to continue using 2018-19 or 2019-20 attendance data to determine state funding for the 2022-23 school year, and superintendents could hire employees on probationary statuses after getting background approval from the Administrative Office of the Courts but before completing a Kentucky State Police background check, according to Rep. Jerry Miller’s explanation of the amended bill.
The latest version of SB 25 would also allow school districts to use the equivalent of 1,062 instructional hours instead of 170 instructional days for makeup days, said Miller, the committee’s chairman.
This story may be updated.
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