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By Emma Lawson (Class of 2021)
During the 2019 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly, I was fortunate to be a part of the University of Louisville Frankfort Legislative Internship Program sponsored by the department of political science. This program provided me with a unique opportunity to be connected with Kentucky politics and our governmental processes through on-site connections (two days a week in Frankfort) and an academic experience that brings what I am learning in the classroom as a student of political science to life. While I particularly enjoyed networking with our legislators and LRC staff, I appreciated the in-depth and candid review of our Commonwealth’s government. I have always had a passion for education policy being a graduate of the Kentucky public education system myself. During my time at the Capitol, I focused primarily on education and agriculture policy, but one particular bill I followed was Senate Bill 175. I found that this particular bill was one of utmost importance to our legislators.
The official summary of the bill, from the Kentucky General Assembly, is as follows: Senate Bill 175 is AN ACT relating to public school assessments and accountability. The purpose of this bill is to amend KRS 158.6453 to revise the standards and assessments process review committee; amend KRS 158.6455 to revise the requirements for the state accountability system; amend KRS 160.346 to revise the requirements for the targeted support and improvement designation; require the Department of Education to report to the Interim Joint Committee on Education on assessment results as they relate to the new graduation requirement.
In a report and posted article from Kevin Wheatley, education reporter at WDRB Louisville, he discusses the bill as follows:
“Instead of comparing test scores of student subgroups – based on factors like race, family income and disability status – with the bottom 5 percent of schools as the Kentucky Department of Education currently does, SB 175 calls for subgroups to be compared to the same subgroups in the bottom 5 percent of schools starting next school year. The percentage of low-performing schools used in the calculation would jump to 10 percent in the 2020-2021 school year. The legislation comes after hundreds of schools across Kentucky were identified for targeted support and improvement, or TSI, based on last school year’s state test results. Kentucky changed the way it designates struggling schools based on the federal Every Student Succeeds Act last year. The lowest-performing schools are identified as comprehensive support and improvement, or CSI, under ESSA, and TSI schools that don’t show improvement after three years automatically become CSI schools. SB 175 would also rescind an executive order reorganizing KDE’s standards and assessments process review committee and alter Kentucky’s school accountability system. It would also require KDE to present state testing data to lawmakers on the House and Senate education committees on Dec. 1, 2019, and Dec. 1, 2020.”
Seeing the topic of education as a prominent discussion within the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the impact of culture within the Capitol, including teacher protesters, made any education bill a sought after piece of legislation that was quick for people to follow. I was surprised to see that even though this education bill was one of the “hot topic” pieces of legislation, it mediated through a slow and succinct process - allowing the best version of the proposed bill to be signed into law. The bipartisan efforts to edit and adapt Senate Bill 175 was surprising yet encouraging for me to experience first-hand. Knowing that our legislators are able to set aside their partisan differences to make the Kentucky Education System a better space for students, teachers, and all involved is promising to look forward for future legislation in upcoming Sessions. Throughout the 2019 General Session, I was continuously reminded that our legislators do work tirelessly to make our Commonwealth a better place for its citizens to live in all aspects of life. I witnessed our democratic process personally this past spring semester and with certainty that our Commonwealth will reflect the needs and wants of its constituents to enact positive change throughout Kentucky.
Sources of Information:
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/19RS/SB175.html