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Kentucky assessment and accountability prototypes discussed during Superintendents Webcast

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Kentucky assessment and accountability prototypes discussed during Superintendents Webcast


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Staff members with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) presented prototypes to revamp the Commonwealth’s assessment and accountability system during the Superintendents Webcast on July 9.

The Kentucky United We Learn Council has been tasked with developing new systems of assessment and accountability following the formation of the United We Learn vision, which focuses on vibrant student experiences, encouraging innovation and collaborating with the community. The vision was developed after a series of listening tours with communities across the Commonwealth in 2021.

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Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher said school leaders should not view the two prototypes as mutually exclusive.

“As we move forward, one of the big things that I would like to be able to do is to have an accountability system that we all can believe in. But we are very much in the draft phase,” he said. “There may be aspects of prototype one that you believe in that you think should be added in, and there may be some of prototype two that you feel like should be a part of the final accountability model.”

Fletcher added that school leaders have the freedom to make suggestions for consideration for the finished product of a new accountability model.

The first prototype is an accreditation-style model. The system would allow for ongoing collection and submission of evidence throughout the school year, where schools would submit evidence to an external evaluator and the local board of education and receive ratings on rubrics with feedback for improvement.

The second prototype values vibrant learning experiences. This system would focus on making sure students, families and communities are engaging in authentic, joyful and relevant learning opportunities. This system also allows students to be creative in their learning and applying their knowledge and skills through their personalized projects and experiences.

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There are policy considerations for each of these prototypes. Jennifer Stafford, director of the KDE Division of Assessment and Accountability Support, said there are considerations with school finances and support efforts as well.

“We have to think, as we are contemplating and considering these different approaches, about the impact that it will have on our teachers, our administrators and our students,” she said.

Superintendents were given surveys to provide feedback and Fletcher encouraged them to seek feedback from across their districts.

“We want an accountability system that you – and when I say ‘you,’ not only superintendents, but your teachers, your staff members – that you think will make an impact on instruction and reflect the individuality of your district,” he said.

The Kentucky United We Learn Council plans to have a convening on July 29 to work on the prototypes ahead of a presentation during the next Kentucky Board of Education meeting on Aug. 7-8.

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School Resource Officer Funding
Matt Ross, associate commissioner in the KDE Office of Finance and Operations, provided an update on funding that’s available for school districts to cover school resource officers (SROs).

Included in the budget state lawmakers passed in April is $16.5 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 and $18 million in fiscal year 2025-2026 for KDE to assist school districts in funding salaries for SROs, as defined in KRS 158.441, on a reimbursement basis.

KDE shall reimburse local school districts up to $20,000 for each campus employing at least one on-site full-time certified school resource officer. Any portion of the money not expended for this purpose shall lapse to the state’s budget reserve trust fund account.

In order to meet the reporting requirement outlined in the budget, KDE is requesting districts that will seek reimbursement to complete the School Resource Officer (SRO) Funding Intent to Participate form by July 31.

The information provided in the survey will determine funding amounts available to districts for each school campus employing at least one on-site full-time certified SRO.

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In other business, superintendents heard updates on:

  • The tentative timeline for accountability reporting;
  • A new public service campaign on chronic absenteeism that will be kicking off in August; and
  • The Kentucky Purple Star Program.





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Kentucky

Kentucky Supreme Court reverses course, strikes down law limiting JCPS board power

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December 18, 2025

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Kentucky Supreme Court reverses course, strikes down law limiting JCPS board power


Last December, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a law by a slim 4-3 majority that limited the power of the Jefferson County Board of Education and delegated more authority to the district’s superintendent.

Almost exactly one year later, the state’s high court has just done the opposite.

In a 4-3 ruling Thursday, the justices struck down the 2022 law, saying it violated the constitution by targeting one specific school district.

The court’s new opinion on the law is because of its change in membership since last December, as newly elected Justice Pamela Goodwine was sworn in a month later, and then joined three other justices in granting the school board’s request to rehear the case in April.

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Replacing a chief justice who had voted to uphold the law last year, Goodwine sided with the majority in the opinion written by Justice Angela McCormick Bisig on Thursday to strike it down.

Bisig wrote that treating the Jefferson County district differently from all other public school districts in the state violated Sections 59 and 60 of the Kentucky Constitution. She noted that while the court “should and does give great deference to the propriety of duly enacted statutes,” they are also “duty bound to ensure that legislative decisions stay within the important mandates” of the constitution.

“When, as here, that legislative aim is focused on one and only one county without any articulable reasonable basis, the enactment violates Sections 59 and 60 of our Constitution,” Bisig wrote. “Reformulating the balance of power between one county’s school board and superintendent to the exclusion of all others without any reasonable basis fails the very tests established in our constitutional jurisprudence to discern constitutional infirmity.”

The at-times blistering dissenting opinion of Justice Shea Nickell — who wrote the majority opinion last year — argued the petition for a rehearing was improvidently granted in April, as it “failed to satisfy our Court’s historic legal standard for granting such requests, and nothing changed other than the Court’s composition.”

Nickell wrote that the court disregarded procedural rules and standards, “thereby reasonably damaging perceptions of judicial independence and diminishing public trust in the court system’s fair and impartial administration of justice.”

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“I am profoundly disturbed by the damage and mischief such a brazen manipulation of the rehearing standard will inflict on the stability and integrity of our judicial decision-making process in the future.”

He added that some may excuse the majority’s decision by saying that “elections have consequences,” but that unlike legislators and executive officers being accountable to voters, “judges and justices are ultimately accountable to the law.”

“Courts must be free of political machinations and any fortuitous change in the composition of an appellate court’s justices should have no impact upon previously rendered fair and impartial judicial pronouncements,” Nickell wrote.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, whose office defended the law before the court, criticized the new ruling voiding the law.

“I am stunned that our Supreme Court reversed itself based only on a new justice joining the Court,” Coleman said. “This decision is devastating for JCPS students and leaves them trapped in a failing system while sabotaging the General Assembly’s rescue mission.”

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Corrie Shull, chair of the Jefferson County Board of Education, said in a statement he is grateful for the court’s new ruling affirming “that JCPS voters and taxpayers should have the same voice in their local operations that other Kentuckians do, through their elected school board members.”

Spokespersons for the Republican majority leadership of the Kentucky House and Senate did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s ruling.

Republican House Speaker David Osborne criticized the move to rehear the case in April, calling it “troubling.”

“Unfortunately, judicial outcomes seem increasingly driven by partisan politics,” Osborne stated. “Kentuckians would be better served to keep politics out of the court, and the court out of politics.”

In August, GOP state Rep. Jason Nemes of Middletown penned an op-ed warning that any ruling overturning the 2022 law could draw a lawsuit challenging the Louisville-Jefferson County merger of 2003 as a violation of the same sections of Kentucky Constitution. That same day, Louisville real estate developer and major GOP donor David Nicklies filed a lawsuit seeking just that.

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Some Republicans have also criticized Goodwine for not recusing herself from the case, alleging she had a conflict of interest due to an independent political action committee heavily funded by the teachers’ union in Louisville spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads to help elect her last year.

Louisville attorney and GOP official Jack Richardson filed a petition with the clerk of the Kentucky House in October to impeach Goodwine for not recusing herself. Goodwine said through a spokesperson at the time that it would not be appropriate for her to comment about the impeachment petition.





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Trump considers marijuana rescheduling executive order, Ky. advocates weigh in

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December 18, 2025

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Trump considers marijuana rescheduling executive order, Ky. advocates weigh in


DANVILLE, Ky. (WKYT) – President Donald Trump says he is strongly considering signing an executive order rescheduling marijuana to a lower classification.

The move would loosen federal restrictions but not fully legalize the drug.

Robert Matheny, a CBD shop owner and cannabis advocate in Kentucky for over a decade, said the proposal sounds like a positive step for the cannabis industry but doesn’t think it goes far enough.

“Initial reaction is this is a great thing and a positive step for cannabis rights — and that’s what it was made to sound like to be able to get people to laugh and cheer for it,” Matheny said.

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Matheny said the president’s looming marijuana reclassification could spell bad news for Kentuckians and the industry as a whole. He said the move would put marijuana products under pharmaceutical control and potentially drive-up prices.

“This puts a big profit margin in for the pharmaceutical industry, and this is a giant gift to from our legislators and our president right now to the pharmaceutical industry,” Matheny said.

Matheny advocates for full marijuana decriminalization, a stance that goes a step further than the one publicly supported by Governor Andy Beshear.

In a July letter to President Trump, Beshear advocated in favor of rescheduling marijuana. In the letter, he said making the rules less restrictive would provide access to cannabis for treatment and allow more research.

The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug. That classification places it alongside other drugs such as heroin and LSD.

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If classified as Schedule III, it would be placed alongside drugs the DEA says have a moderate-to-low potential for physical and psychological dependence such as ketamine and testosterone.

Matheny said even if someone is caught with a Schedule III drug, someone could still be in trouble.

“It’s still a drug. It’s still a pharmacy. If you get caught with over-the-counter pain pills it is still the same as getting caught with fentanyl you got a drug,” Matheny said.

Matthew Bratcher of Kentucky NORML is another marijuana advocate who agrees with Matheny and says legislators should go a step further.

Bratcher said while a meaningful step forward, people would not see full clarity or fairness until cannabis is fully declassified. The longtime cannabis advocate said he will watch to see what is done in Washington.

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It’s unclear when Trump will sign the executive order.

Copyright 2025 WKYT. All rights reserved.



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Kentucky

Kentucky loses recruiting prediction for 5-star forward Christian Collins as NIL looms large

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December 17, 2025

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Kentucky loses recruiting prediction for 5-star forward Christian Collins as NIL looms large


Collins, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward from Bellflower, California, is widely regarded as one of the premier frontcourt prospects in the country. His blend of athleticism, scoring ability, and defensive versatility made him a major priority for Kentucky head coach Mark Pope and his staff as they work to build future recruiting classes.

According to Jacob Polacheck of KSR, Collins’ recruitment is being heavily influenced by NIL structure and contract details, a growing trend at the top of the recruiting landscape. That reality was addressed publicly earlier this month by Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart during Will Stein’s introductory press conference as the Wildcats’ new football head coach.

Barnhart pushed back strongly against the perception that Kentucky is at an NIL disadvantage, saying, “Enough about ‘have we got enough?’ We’ve got enough.” He also emphasized that Kentucky will not compromise its standards to land recruits. “We’ve got to do it the right way,” Barnhart said. “We’re not going to break the rules. That’s flat-out.”

While Kentucky no longer holds a crystal ball prediction for Collins, the Wildcats are not out of the race. However, his recruitment now appears far more fluid, underscoring the increasingly complex balance between elite talent, NIL expectations, and long-term program philosophy in modern college basketball.

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