Budget subcommittee advances five education measures, including school-day makewhole and parental-accountability substitute

The Budget Review Subcommittee on Primary & Secondary Education & Workforce Development advanced five measures Thursday, approving House Bills 669, 621 (committee substitute), 758 and 809 and House Joint Resolution 49. The measures range from a local request that would make school districts whole for days lost after a shooting to a committee-substituted juvenile-justice provision that would allow courts the option to impose fines on parents and require mental-health contact for children adjudicated for terroristic threatening.

Representative Tom Smith, who introduced House Bill 669, told the committee the bill grew out of a September incident near I-75 that left multiple people shot and forced schools in his area to close. "I'm Tom Smith from the 80 Sixth District. I'm here today to discuss an important matter that happened in my district," Smith said in opening remarks. He told the committee districts sought guidance after extended closures and that the bill is intended to "make these school districts . . . made whole," not to create a precedent.

Why it matters: Committee-members and witnesses framed the bills as operational fixes to problems that local districts and agencies reported—lost instructional days, online and in-person threats that mobilize law enforcement and pull SROs from other schools, inequities in career-and-technical-education (CTE) funding calculations, and administrative delays in KHSAA transfer hearings.

House Bill 621 (committee substitute): parental accountability and juvenile disposition Representative Robert Duvall presented House Bill 621 and its committee substitute, which removed earlier references to homeschooling. Duvall summarized the substitute saying, "If a child is adjudicated for violation of terroristic threatening, House Bill 6 21 simply allows the courts the option to impose a fine to the parents of the child based upon the determination that law enforcement incurred excessive costs responding to the offense. It also puts the child in contact with a mental health professional." Steve Chapelle, who identified himself as the SRO supervisor for Bowling Green Independent Schools and former school safety director for Warren County Public Schools, described the local resource impact of investigating online threats: "We have to pull resources from other schools to go to that school that the threat was directed at, and that leaves our other schools vulnerable."

Supporters emphasized parental accountability and the strain that threats place on schools and law enforcement; opponents and testimony from criminal-defense groups pressed constitutional and due-process concerns. Scott West of Kentucky Policy and the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers urged caution about mandatory detention at disposition and cited existing statutory protections and due-process requirements, saying, "No person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property, and money is property without due process of law." Public commenters from homeschool organizations said the committee substitute addressed their concerns about an earlier version of the bill.

House Bill 758: career and technical education funding formula change Representative Neema Kulkarni and Kentucky Department of Education officials described House Bill 758 as a technical funding-change bill for supplemental CTE funds. The substitute would allocate 75% of the supplemental funds for enrollment-based funding and 25% for incentive-based funding, replacing the prior 60/40 split in KRS 157.069. KDE witnesses and rural superintendents told the committee the change aims to restore base funding to districts that lost ground under recent calculations while preserving incentives tied to recognized CTE milestones. A KDE official said the revisions "encourage student progression through the pathway," and rural superintendents told members that focusing incentives on completion would reduce unintended consequences that disadvantaged some rural programs.

House Bill 809: optional local health-department assistance for health curricula Representative Kim Mosier presented House Bill 809, which adds a permissive section to KRS chapter 158 allowing a superintendent to ask the local health department for assistance in programming age-appropriate health topics. Rebecca Hartsoe (representing the Kentucky Health Department Association) and public-health directors described the provision as optional assistance subject to local school-board approval. The bill, witnesses said, keeps curriculum authority with local boards and makes local-health help available when districts request it.

HJR 49: administrative procedures for KHSAA transfers Representative Nick Wilson introduced House Joint Resolution 49 as a red-tape–reduction study focused on transfer hearings and processing at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA). Wilson said KHSAA handles more than 900 transfers a year and that current administrative-hearing timelines and mail-based procedures sometimes delay eligibility for students during short athletic seasons. Julian Tackett of the KHSAA said the association is open to statutory changes and noted the KHSAA was placed under KRS chapter 13B in the mid-1990s; he said an electronic-transfer system is in development that could reduce delays.

Votes at a glance - House Bill 669 (school makewhole for lost days after shooting): approved by the committee with the committee's "expression of opinion that the same should pass." (Motion passed; roll-call recorded in committee minutes; outcome: approved.) - House Bill 621 (committee substitute; parental fines option and mental-health contact for children adjudicated for terroristic threatening): approved by the committee with the committee substitute attached. Debate noted competing statutory and due-process concerns; opponents urged further statutory refinement. (Outcome: approved.) - House Bill 758 (CTE supplemental funding allocation revised to 75% enrollment / 25% incentives; KRS 157.069 revisions): approved by the committee. (Outcome: approved.) - House Bill 809 (permissive local-health-department assistance for school health curriculum; new section of KRS chapter 158): approved by the committee. (Outcome: approved.) - HJR 49 (study/red-tape reduction for KHSAA transfer procedures): approved by the committee. Members and KHSAA officials said procedural and statutory adjustments will be explored. (Outcome: approved.)

Committee next steps and context Committee members asked sponsors to refine statutory language where concerns were raised, especially for House Bill 621 regarding detention language and due-process protections. Multiple members said they expect follow-up work between sponsors and interested members (for example, Representative Wilner and Representative Duvall) before floor action. Several bills were advanced to the full House with the committee's expression that they should pass.

Ending: The committee adjourned after final votes; sponsors and agency officials said they would continue working with members to resolve technical or constitutional concerns before floor consideration.