The Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children is a coalition of non-profit, public, and private organizations that stands on three pillars: thriving communities launch strong families, strong families launch successful kids, and successful kids launch a prosperous future for Kentucky. The Blueprint speaks with a common voice to create brighter futures for all Kentucky kids and their families. Learn more about the 2024 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priorities at kyyouth.org/blueprintKY.

As we recover from eclipse mania in Kentucky, Kentucky Youth Advocates is reflecting on the mania of 2024 state legislative session – filled with both bright and dark spots. We hope the important steps the General Assembly took for kids are not overshadowed.

K-12 Education

Get out your eclipse glasses – because this session was HOT with K-12 education policy work. From bus safety to cursive writing to an expansion of mathematics interventions and changes to substitute teacher certification, this session included a wide array of proposed legislation – some that shined and others not so much.

The legislature took a significant step in supporting the student-teacher pipeline with the passage of House Bill 377 which creates the Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness Pilot Program and establishes Student-Teacher stipends in eligible programs. This bill will provide the necessary support for teachers as they train to join the workforce.

Related to safety and student wellbeing, Senate Bill 2 would, among other things, require school trauma-informed teams to submit their improvement plan to the Kentucky Department of Education, require schools to provide suicide prevention awareness training twice a year, and create the School Mapping Data Program for schools to include school mapping data, if available, in their emergency plans. This bill also established a framework for “guardians” as an additional temporary option for schools.

In the same way that an eclipse brings the sun, earth, and moon in alignment – policy in Frankfort should be alignment with KENTUCKY values. At times this session, there seemed to be a lack of alignment between the wants and desires of Kentuckians, and the outputs by the legislature. From expediting the role of the county attorneys in school truancy to targeted task forces without necessary representation to expending time and energy on bills that only increase the workload of educators, there were many frustrations that overshadowed the good work that can be done.

Some other rare phenomena included the passage of House Bill 2 – the school choice bill. This bill puts a constitutional amendment to the voters asking if they would change the constitution to allow the legislature to fund non-public schools like private and charter schools – stay tuned for more information. Also, Robbie Fletcher was confirmed as the next Commissioner of Education.

Health

In the health sphere, all eyes were on House Bill 11 to serve as an important step in protecting kids from the aggressive marketing and sales of vapes to youth across the Commonwealth. But before reaching the finish line, last minute changes to the bill weakened the tobacco-21 enforcement components and left child advocates wondering why the focus shifted away from protecting kids.

As Kentucky looks for solutions to the concerning maternal health outcomes across the state, Senate Bill 74 represents an important piece of the puzzle. Including elements related to the Child and Infant Mortality Team and a late floor amendment to add what is known as the ‘Momnibus’ bill (House Bill 10), this effort is an important step toward better serving pregnant and new moms  and their babies.

In addition to the bright spots in maternal health efforts, equally positive bills were left in the dark. House Bill 199 championed by Representative Nemes would have removed barriers to licensing and opening freestanding birth centers in Kentucky, which offer a safe, home-like delivery environment for low-risk pregnancies. Despite advancing through the House and receiving readings on the Senate floor, this bill ultimately did not advance to become law. Senate Bill 142 aimed to ensure paid family leave for state employees and passed the Senate but did not advance in the House.

Economic Security

From Paducah to Prestonsburg, Kentuckians are facing the same problem: they cannot find safe, affordable housing to live and grow as families in. The legislature took some steps to acknowledge this crisis but missed other opportunities to make meaningful improvements to Kentuckians’ housing stability.

Starting with brights spots, the House has taken a major step to acknowledge the housing crisis by passing House Concurrent Resolution 68 which signals their intent to create an interim taskforce on affordable housing, an action we hoped to see the Senate support. Once established, this task force will meet in the months before the 2025 session and do a deep dive into housing availability and affordability throughout Kentucky and identify policies and opportunities to build more affordable housing.

While studying the state of housing in Kentucky is an important first step, the legislature missed the opportunity to address known causes of housing instability. Eviction filings leave a permanent mark on someone’s record, often forcing them into persistent housing insecurity for years. Senate Bill 34 and House Bill 71 would have given families with an eviction history a second chance at housing stability by establishing a process to expunge evictions, but the legislature failed to move either bill.

Early Childhood

The primary focus in the world of early childhood education this session was Senate Bill 203, known as the Horizons Act, sponsored by Senator Carroll. This bill was a vehicle to fund and stabilize child care for Kentucky’s working families. The bill focused on funding streams for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the CCAP income exclusion for child care providers, and the start-up funds for new child care programs that were supported during the pandemic with one-time federal funds. The bill also would have created a separate funding stream called “foundation funds” that would supplement child care programs’ income – similar to the SEEK dollars that are utilized in the K-12 education system.

Along with funding, the bill looked at several policy changes like creating a new early childhood entrepreneurship program in Kentucky’s community college system and changing the name of the Division of Child Care to the Division of Early Childhood Education. Although the bill did not make it past the Senate, the media attention around the bill helped to create a lot of discussion about what type of funding Kentucky’s child care programs will need to remain open after all the one-time federal funds run out. Without SB 203 to establish some of these funding sources as permanent, Kentucky will continue to have these discussions in years to come to ensure all of our Commonwealth’s families have access to safe, high-quality child care for their children.

Another prominent child care bill from this session was House Bill 561, sponsored by Representative Heavrin. One of the challenges to expanding child care access throughout the Commonwealth has been prohibitive zoning laws and fees. This legislation will allow local communities to reexamine their zoning policies and fees in order to become Child Care Friendly Communities and makes the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership program permanent.

Child Welfare

Within the child welfare sector, we saw critical bills filed that made it through the total  darkness and saw the light of day on the other side. The sun really shone down on Kentucky’s kinship families with Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Julie Raque Adams, and House Concurrent Resolution 117, sponsored by Representative Heavrin. SB 151 closes a gap in access to additional supports by allowing a relative or fictive kin caregiver to apply within 120 days or upon a qualifying event to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to be a relative or fictive kin foster home. It also allows the young people themselves a say in where they are placed upon removal from their home. HCR 117 signals to the General Assembly to create the Kentucky Kinship Task Force to study, review, and make recommendations regarding the current and future policy needs of the state to address access and availability of kinship care.

A shining example of good child abuse prevention policy that balances mandates and options is Senate Bill 145, also sponsored by Senator Raque Adams, which will allow healthcare providers and health facilities currently enrolled in the Medicaid program to submit a current or prospective employee to a background check of the CAN or adult abuse registries. And House Joint Resolution 116, sponsored by Representative Heavrin, signals to the General Assembly and Cabinet for Health and Family Services the need to evaluate and report on services offered to children in out-of-home care settings.

Sadly, there were bills filed that did not make it through the darkness and met their end before the sun returned. House Bill 275 passed both chambers, but after changes in the Senate, it failed to be concurred with in the House. This bill would have helped reduce the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation and increase the safety of students by mandating that public schools, charter schools, and certified nonpublic schools cannot enter into nondisclosure agreements regarding misconduct involving minors or students. It also introduced the definition of abusive conduct and required rigorous background and reference checks for school district applicants, required investigation of abusive conduct allegations, and established stringent employment standards and training related to sexual misconduct, among others.

Senate Bill 181, sponsored by Senate Raque Adams, also did not receive passage this session. This legislation would have established the crime of sexual extortion as a felony, including sexual extortion in the definition of a sex crime, require superintendents of local school districts to notify students in grades 4 and above and parents and guardians of all students of the crime of sexual extortion, and require schools and postsecondary institutions to include posters about sexual extortion and offer assistance to victims.

And as always, Kentucky Youth Advocates will monitor the implementation of these bills and encourage advocates to stay informed about the impact on Kentucky kids and families. Read a deep dive of the 2024 state budget and the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priorities here.