SB 1 — AN ACT relating to education.

UNOFFICIALCHAPTER COPY153 261 RSCHAPTER 153 ( SB 1/VO1 ) AN ACT relating to education.

and WHEREAS, JCPS employs a districtwide student assignment and choice model involving magnet programs, specialized academic pathways, and cross-attendance-zone enrollment that materially increases routing complexity, operational risk, and Page 1 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO coordination demands beyond those faced by other Kentucky school districts;

and WHEREAS, JCPS elementary, middle, and high schools overall earned a performance rating in the "orange" category for the 2024-2025 school year, the second-second-lowest lowest tier in the state’s accountability system, reflecting persistent and systemwide academic underperformance relative to statewide expectations;

and WHEREAS, JCPS state assessment results show that proficiency rates in reading remain unacceptably low across grade levels, with approximately 24 percent of elementary students, 22 percent of middle school students, and 23 percent of high school students achieving proficiency in reading, demonstrating long-standing deficiencies in literacy outcomes;

and WHEREAS, JCPS continues to experience significant and persistent deficiencies in Page 2 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO literacy outcomes, especially in reading achievement among middle and high school students, which district leadership has publicly acknowledged cannot be addressed without sustained, systemwide intervention;

and Legislative Research Commission PDF Version ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WHEREAS, the number of JCPS schools identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) status increased from 34 schools in 2022 to 41 schools in 2025, demonstrating a growing concentration of the Commonwealth’s lowest-performing schools within a single district and accounting for approximately 77 percent of all CSI-CSI-designated designated schools statewide;

and WHEREAS, JCPS manages a nearly $2,000,000,000 complex public system and has publicly reported significant budget deficits and ongoing fiscal pressures, creating heightened statewide risk exposure due to the district’s size and its large share of Page 3 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO Kentucky’s total public school enrollment;

and WHEREAS, recurring operational crises, including transportation failures, safety Page 4 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO incidents, fiscal instability, and persistent academic underperformance, reflect not merely programmatic shortcomings but structural governance deficiencies that impede timely, coordinated executive action;

and WHEREAS, districts operating at such a large scale and high level of complexity require governance structures that clearly distinguish between strategic oversight, policy-policy-setting, setting, and accountability on one hand, and day-to-day operational management and execution on the other;

and CHAPTER 153 3 WHEREAS, the governance structure established in subsection (2) of Section 1 of this Act is intended to serve as a targeted and proportionate alternative to state takeover, preserving local control while addressing structural deficiencies that have repeatedly resulted in systemwide failures;

and Page 5 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO WHEREAS, districts of this magnitude present governance, operational, and fiscal challenges that are categorically different from those faced by small and mid-sized districts, and uniform governance structures designed for substantially smaller systems cannot reasonably be expected to perform effectively at this scale;

and WHEREAS, efficiency within the meaning of Section 183 encompasses not only academic outcomes, but also fiscal stewardship, student safety, transportation reliability, Page 6 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO workforce management, and the capacity for timely executive decision-making;

and Legislative Research Commission PDF Version ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WHEREAS, such governance structures are reasonably and naturally related to the distinctive challenges faced by these districts;

and Page 7 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO WHEREAS, the purpose of subsection (2) of Section 1 of this Act is to improve student outcomes, safeguard student wellbeing, ensure public safety, restore public confidence, and strengthen fiscal stewardship through enhanced executive accountability and strategic board oversight;

Delegate authority to the superintendent over the district's day-to-day operations and implementation of the board-approved strategic plan and Page 8 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO budget in a manner that promotes the efficient, timely operation of the district, including but not limited to the authority over contracts related to daily operations of the district, pupil transportation, personnel matters, and the organizational structure of administrative staff;

Page 9 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO 7.

CHAPTER 153 5 (b) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in subsection (1) of this section, the superintendent shall:

Notwithstanding any law that assigns an administrative duty, responsibility, or authority to a board of education, or other law to the contrary, be responsible for any administrative duty not explicitly granted to the board under paragraph (a) of this subsection;[ and] (c) If the school district[county] adopts the provisions of the Kentucky Model Procurement Code, the board shall authorize the superintendent to approve Page 10 of 11 SB000190.100 - 1479 - XXXX 4/14/2026 1:52 PM Vetoed and Overridden UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS SB 1/VO purchases, in accordance with small purchase procedures adopted by the board, for any contract for which a determination is made that the aggregate amount of the contract does not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000);[.] (d) The board shall authorize the superintendent to approve a line-item transfer within its annual budget as she or he deems necessary, provided that the aggregate amount of all transfers do[any individual transfer does] not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) per quarter.

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Legislative Research Commission PDF Version