AN ACT relating to curriculum.

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AN ACT relating to curriculum. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 156.160 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) With the advice of the Local Superintendents Advisory Council, the Kentucky 4
Board of Education shall promulgate administrative regulations establishing 5
standards which school districts shall meet in studen t, program, service, and 6
operational performance. These regulations shall comply with the expected 7
outcomes for students and schools set forth in KRS 158.6451. Administrative 8
regulations shall be promulgated for the following: 9
(a) Courses of study for the different grades and kinds of common schools 10
identifying the common curriculum content directly tied to the goals, 11
outcomes, and assessment strategies developed under KRS 158.645, 12
158.6451, and 158.6453 and distributed to local school districts and schools . 13
The administrative regulations shall provide that: 14
1. If a school offers American sign language, the course shall be accepted 15
as meeting the foreign language requirements in common schools 16
notwithstanding other provisions of law; 17
2. If a school offers the Reserve Officers Training Corps program, the 18
course shall be accepted as meeting the physical education requirement 19
for high school graduation notwithstanding other provisions of law; 20
3. Every public middle and high school's curricul um shall include 21
instruction on the Holocaust and other cases of genocide, as defined by 22
the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 23
Crime of Genocide, that a court of competent jurisdiction, whether a 24
court in the United States o r the International Court of Justice, has 25
determined to have been committed by applying rigorous standards of 26
due process;[ and] 27
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4. Every public middle and high school's curriculum shall include 1
instruction on the history of racism that shall include but n ot be 2
limited to the transatlantic slave trade, the American civil war, 3
reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the black codes, desegregation, the 4
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, redlining, and 5
residential segregation; and 6
5. Beginning in the 2025 -2026 school year, cursive writing shall be 7
included as a course of study in all elementary schools and shall be 8
designed to ensure proficiency in cursive writing by the end of grade 9
five (5); 10
(b) Courses of study or educational experiences available to students in all middle 11
and high schools to fulfill the prerequisites for courses in advanced science 12
and mathematics as defined in KRS 158.845; 13
(c) The acquisition and use of educational equipment for the schools as 14
recommended by the Council for Education Technology; 15
(d) The minimum requirements for high school graduation in light of the 16
expected outcomes for students and schools set forth in KRS 158.6451. The 17
minimum requirements shall not include achieving any postsecondary 18
readiness indicator as described in KRS 158.6455 or any minimum score on a 19
statewide assessment administered under KRS 158.6453. Student scores from 20
any assessment administered under KRS 158.6453 that are determined by the 21
department's technical advisory committee to be valid and reliable at the 22
individual level shall be included on the student transcript. The department's 23
technical advisory committee shall submit its determination to the 24
commissioner of education and the Legislative Research Commission; 25
(e) The requirements for a n alternative high school diploma for students with 26
disabilities whose individualized education program indicates that, in 27
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accordance with 20 U.S.C. sec. 1414(d)(1)(A): 1
1. The student cannot participate in the regular statewide assessment; and 2
2. An approp riate alternate assessment has been selected for the student 3
based upon a modified curriculum and an individualized course of 4
study; 5
(f) Taking and keeping a school census, and the forms, blanks, and software to be 6
used in taking and keeping the census and in compiling the required reports. 7
The board shall create a statewide student identification numbering system 8
based on students' Social Security numbers. The system shall provide a 9
student identification number similar to, but distinct from, the Social Se curity 10
number, for each student who does not have a Social Security number or 11
whose parents or guardians choose not to disclose the Social Security number 12
for the student; 13
(g) Sanitary and protective construction of public school buildings, toilets, 14
physical equipment of school grounds, school buildings, and classrooms. With 15
respect to physical standards of sanitary and protective construction for school 16
buildings, the Kentucky Board of Education shall adopt the Uniform State 17
Building Code; 18
(h) Medical insp ection, physical and health education and recreation, and other 19
regulations necessary or advisable for the protection of the physical welfare 20
and safety of the public school children. The administrative regulations shall 21
set requirements for student health standards to be met by all students in 22
grades four (4), eight (8), and twelve (12) pursuant to the outcomes described 23
in KRS 158.6451. The administrative regulations shall permit a student who 24
received a physical examination no more than six (6) months pr ior to his or 25
her initial admission to Head Start to substitute that physical examination for 26
the physical examination required by the Kentucky Board of Education of all 27
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students upon initial admission to the public schools, if the physical 1
examination given in the Head Start program meets all the requirements of the 2
physical examinations prescribed by the Kentucky Board of Education; 3
(i) A vision examination by an optometrist or ophthalmologist that shall be 4
required by the Kentucky Board of Education. The administrative regulations 5
shall require evidence that a vision examination that meets the criteria 6
prescribed by the Kentucky Board of Education has been performed. This 7
evidence shall be submitted to the school no later than January 1 of the first 8
year that a three (3), four (4), five (5), or six (6) year -old child is enrolled in a 9
public school, public preschool, or Head Start program; 10
(j) 1. Beginning with the 2010 -2011 school year, a dental screening or 11
examination by a dentist, dental hygienist, phys ician, registered nurse, 12
advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant that shall be 13
required by the Kentucky Board of Education. The administrative 14
regulations shall require evidence that a dental screening or examination 15
that meets the crite ria prescribed by the Kentucky Board of Education 16
has been performed. This evidence shall be submitted to the school no 17
later than January 1 of the first year that a five (5) or six (6) year -old 18
child is enrolled in a public school. 19
2. A child shall be ref erred to a licensed dentist if a dental screening or 20
examination performed by anyone other than a licensed dentist identifies 21
the possibility of dental disease; 22
(k) The transportation of children to and from school; 23
(l) The fixing of holidays on which scho ols may be closed and special days to be 24
observed, and the pay of teachers during absence because of sickness or 25
quarantine or when the schools are closed because of quarantine; 26
(m) The preparation of budgets and salary schedules for the several school 27
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districts under the management and control of the Kentucky Board of 1
Education; 2
(n) A uniform series of forms and blanks, educational and financial, including 3
forms of contracts, for use in the several school districts; 4
(o) The disposal of real and personal pr operty owned by local boards of 5
education; and 6
(p) The development and implementation of procedures, for all students who are 7
homeless children and youths as defined in 42 U.S.C. sec. 11434a(2), to do 8
the following: 9
1. Awarding and accepting of credit, inc luding partial credit, for all 10
coursework satisfactorily completed by a student while enrolled at 11
another school; 12
2. Allowing a student who was previously enrolled in a course required for 13
graduation the opportunity, to the extent practicable, to complete the 14
course, at no cost to the student, before the beginning of the next school 15
year; 16
3. Awarding a diploma, at the student's request, by a district from which 17
the student transferred, if the student transfers schools at any time after 18
the completion of the student's second year of high school and the 19
student is ineligible to graduate from the district to which the student 20
transfers, but meets the graduation requirements of the district from 21
which the student transferred; and 22
4. Exempting the student from al l coursework and other requirements 23
imposed by the local board of education that are in addition to the 24
minimum requirements for high school graduation established by the 25
Kentucky Board of Education pursuant to paragraph (d) of this 26
subsection in the distr ict to which the student transfers, if the student 27
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transfers schools at any time after the completion of the student's second 1
year of high school and the student is ineligible to graduate both from 2
the district to which the student transfers and the distri ct from which the 3
student transferred. 4
(2) Any private, parochial, or church school may voluntarily comply with curriculum, 5
certification, and textbook standards established by the Kentucky Board of 6
Education and be certified upon application to the board by such schools. 7
(3) Any public school that violates the provisions of KRS 158.854 shall be subject to a 8
penalty to be assessed by the commissioner of education as follows: 9
(a) The first violation shall result in a fine of no less than one (1) week's revenue 10
from the sale of the competitive food; 11
(b) Subsequent violations shall result in a fine of no less than one (1) month's 12
revenue from the sale of the competitive food; 13
(c) "Habitual violations," which means five (5) or more violations within a six (6) 14
month period, shall result in a six (6) month ban on competitive food sales for 15
the violating school; and 16
(d) Revenue collected as a result of the fines in this subsection shall be 17
transferred to the food service fund of the local school district. 18