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Members of the 99re视频精品 Board of Education met in Frankfort on Oct. 1-2. Photo by Myles Young, 99re视频精品 Department of Education, Oct. 1 2025

(FRANKFORT, KY) 鈥� 99re视频精品 Board of Education (KBE) members affirmed their for the 2025-2026 school year during .

The top goal for the board remains to foster vibrant learning experiences, one of the three pillars of the for 99re视频精品鈥檚 schools. In order to do this, KBE members identified two areas of focus:

• Support educators to design and implement engaging, real-world and content-rich learning experiences that inspire students to participate actively and apply their knowledge meaningfully.
• Strengthen the educator workforce through enhanced collaboration with the Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) and the 99re视频精品 Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE).

Board members plan to prioritize the recruitment, retention and diversification of the educator workforce to enrich the teaching and learning experience and the educational environment for all students.

The board鈥檚 next goal is to advance educational innovation and excellence through continued support of the development and implementation of , promoting continuous improvement efforts through community-based accountability measures, and advancing statewide efforts to support the implementation of high-quality instructional resources for numeracy and literacy. As a new focus area, the board intends to explore opportunities for high school transformation across the Commonwealth aligned with workforce development.

KBE members also plan to prioritize collaborative partnerships with various education stakeholder groups 鈥� including families, policymakers, community members and groups such as the EPSB 鈥� along with the development of metrics to measure how successful the board is in accomplishing its goals and legislative priorities.

The list of 2026 legislative priorities for the KBE includes advocating for legislative backing to promote the reimagined assessment and accountability systems. This includes fostering conversations around innovative approaches to measuring student success and ensuring the systems are meaningful and useful to all learners.

The legislative priorities also include supporting the funding of several key initiatives: professional development associated with the Numeracy Counts Act; Read to Succeed literacy coaches; universal preschool and full-day kindergarten; more support for high-quality instructional resources; funding for the 99re视频精品 Education Technology System; and ongoing support for school safety efforts.

In addition to these funding priorities, KBE members singled out efforts to support the educator workforce in collaboration with the EPSB and CPE to update educator preparation programs, and continued advocacy for teacher scholarships, and additional mentoring to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

Among other priorities, the board wants to address current funding inequities in career and technical education (CTE) by including area technology centers into the CTE funding formula and increasing CTE funds. The board also wants to work with KDE and its advisory councils to explore areas where facilities funding can be improved.

Nontraditional Instruction (NTI)

KBE members approved amendments to , regulations on nontraditional instruction (NTI) programs.

KDE Policy Advisor Matthew Courtney went over the changes with KBE members, some of which create a series of new definitions in the regulation, including one for district nontraditional instruction contact. Courtney said most districts already have a point of contact for their NTI programs, but under the proposed amendment, every district would need one to improve transparency.

Another change asks districts to clarify how they collect evidence of student learning. All districts are required to collect evidence of student learning for their NTI programs, but Courtney said the process of documenting those plans isn鈥檛 well-defined, so the proposed amendment provides clarity.

The changes also include broadening the list of acceptable items that count as evidence of learning. Examples of student work and lesson plans have always been allowable, but Courtney said the amendments would allow reports from online learning management systems, examples of teacher-student communication or other documentation KDE and the district deem appropriate.

Among some of the other changes, districts would be required to seek KDE review and approval before making changes to their NTI plan during the school year.

There also will be minimum thresholds for evidence of learning under the proposal:

• Grades K-5: One piece of clear evidence for each grade level for reading, math and one other content area for each NTI day;
• Grades 6-12: One piece of clear evidence in each grade level and each content area for each NTI day.

The measure also clarifies definitions around the monitoring of NTI programs and creates a process to help districts that fall out of compliance with a corrective action protocol to return them to good standing.

Students and representatives from Special Olympics 99re视频精品, Bullitt East High School (Bullitt County) and Westport Middle School (Jefferson County) speak to the 99re视频精品 Board of Education on sports, leadership and engagement. Photo by Myles Young, 99re视频精品 Department of Education, Oct. 2, 2025

Unified Champion Schools

KBE members heard an update on the and representatives from two Unified Champion Schools, Bullitt East High School (Bullitt County) and Westport Middle School (Jefferson County).

The national initiative aims to promote social inclusion through intentionally planned and implemented activities in K-12 schools and college campuses.

More than 100 schools in 99re视频精品 participate in the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools initiative. Special Olympics 99re视频精品 assists schools in the Commonwealth with implementing the three pillars of a Unified Champion School:

• Inclusive sports: These schools include Unified Sports programs such as interscholastic/99re视频精品 High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) Unified Sports, Unified physical education or Unified intramurals, and Special Olympics Unified Sports. Inclusive sports support all ages. Special Olympics Young Athletes has an inclusive play activity program for ages 2-7.
• Youth Leadership: Students with and without intellectual disabilities at these schools work together to lead and plan advocacy, awareness, Special Olympics and other inclusive activities throughout the school year.
• Whole School Engagement: These schools hold awareness and educational activities that promote inclusion and reach the majority of the school population.

Emily Gelnet, a moderate to severe disabilities teacher at Westport Middle School, said her school has bought in to making Westport an inclusive school for students with disabilities.

鈥淏ut what鈥檚 even better? Watching true friendships form during all of these events; watching the general education students, our peers, maturing right before my eyes and seeing the impact this has on them not only in the moment, but forever,鈥� she said. 鈥淓veryone deserves to feel included; being a Unified Champion School makes that happen.鈥�

Ondrea Smallwood, assistant principal at Bullitt East High School, said their school culture is 鈥渆lectric鈥� because of the inclusivity brought on in part by the Unified Champion Schools initiative.

鈥淓very student is valued, seen and celebrated,鈥� Smallwood said.

Smallwood said they have more students interested in signing up as peers than they have available slots. She also said the Unified Champion Schools has even helped build its teacher pipeline. One of the school鈥檚 moderate to severe disabilities teachers graduated from Bullitt East and at least three peer mentors are currently in college programs, pursuing special education teaching degrees.

Riley Warnecke, a senior at Bullitt East, said she has been a peer leader in the school鈥檚 Unified Champion Schools program, Project Unify, her entire time in high school. She said she enjoys spending time with her fellow students and cheering them on during the activities.

鈥淲hat makes Project Unify even more special is how it reaches beyond the classroom and the games into everyday life,鈥� Warnecke said. 鈥淚t brings teachers, students and the community together in a way that breaks down barriers. When people come to our events, they get to see how powerful inclusion is first-hand.鈥�

Several Unified Champion Schools participants at both schools shared their favorite parts of the program, including the sports they participate in and the fun they have with their classmates.

In other business, KBE members approved:

• An evaluation of Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher along with a set of goals and an evaluation plan for the commissioner for 2025-2026;
• A statement of consideration and amendments to , non-school bus passenger vehicles;

• A statement of consideration for , waiver requests, to update forms incorporated by reference in the regulation;
• Amendments to , required academic standards for reading and writing, as part of the typical six-year review process for standards across all content areas;
• Amendments to , preschool education programs for 4-year-old children, to clarify and modernize language in the regulation;
• Amendments to , superintendent training program and assessment process, to reflect current practices;
• The expiration of six outdated regulations, pursuant to ;
• Waiver requests from Harrison County and Elizabethtown Independent school districts related to the formation of new local planning committees;
• Requests related to property acquisition for Barbourville Independent and Knox County school districts; and
• Presented the 2025 Kelly Award for Business and Education Partnership to the Indiana, 99re视频精品, Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters.