Summary — SCR 76 (2025): Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force
Status: Concurrent resolution; introduced May 12, 2025. (Listed status: 2nd reading, to Rules.)
Purpose and intent
- Directs the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) to create a temporary task force to review the governance of the Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD).
- The resolution expresses the General Assembly’s intent to ensure KSD’s governance supports student achievement and appropriately represents the interests of its constituency, and to determine whether an alternate governance model (including an independent board of education) would be more effective.
Key provisions
- Establishment: The LRC is directed to establish the “Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force.”
- Duties: The task force shall (1) study and recommend opportunities to improve KSD governance, and (2) assess the efficiency and effectiveness of different governance models, explicitly including consideration of an independent board of education.
- Membership: Final membership is subject to LRC approval. The resolution specifies that the task force will include legislative appointees from Senate and House leadership (appointments by the President of the Senate, Senate Minority Floor Leader, Speaker of the House, and House Minority Floor Leader), plus non-legislative participants including:
- a parent or guardian of a child attending KSD;
- a certified teacher currently or formerly employed as a classroom teacher at KSD with at least five years’ experience; and
- two individuals with background, knowledge, skills, or experience in deaf education or American Sign Language.
(The resolution designates one legislative appointee to serve as co-chair.)
- Meetings and reporting: The task force shall meet as necessary during the 2025 Interim. It must submit findings and recommendations to the LRC for referral to the appropriate committee(s) by December 1, 2025.
- LRC authority: The LRC may alternatively assign the issues to an interim joint committee or subcommittee and may set a different completion date.
Who would be affected
- Students and families served by the Kentucky School for the Deaf, KSD staff and teachers, and the broader deaf and hard-of-hearing education community in Kentucky.
- The General Assembly and state education policymakers, who could receive recommendations leading to legislative or administrative changes in KSD governance.
Procedural/timeline notes
- SCR 76 is a nonbinding concurrent resolution that creates a study body rather than enacting statutory change. Any recommended governance changes would require subsequent legislative or administrative action.
- Deliverable deadline: findings/recommendations due to the LRC by December 1, 2025.
