FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky students are a step closer to getting a “do-over” year.
The Kentucky House passed Senate Bill 128 by a 92-5 vote Tuesday evening, sending the measure to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk for approval or a veto, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
If the governor signs the measure, students from all grades would be able to remain in their current grade during the 2021-2022 school year, the newspaper reported.
The bill offers any student enrolled in a Kentucky public or private school “in grades kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2020-21 school year” to request to use the 2021-22 school year as a supplemental school year, WLEX reported.
“I see it as an opportunity bill,” SB 128 sponsor Sen. Max Wise told the television station earlier this month. “I see it as (an) opportunity that was lost in this past year of school.”
The bill would also allow high school students to have a fifth year of eligibility to play sports, as long as they don’t turn 19 before Aug. 1, WSAZ reported. Most existing rules set by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association rules, including transfer rules, will remain in effect, the Courier-Journal reported.
“The reason athletics got added to it, or at least the supportive reason we found, was that we didn’t want athletics rules to keep people from making good academic decisions,” KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett told WLEX earlier this month.
Local school boards would have the final say over whether students are entitled to a repeat year, the newspaper reported.
It is unclear how many students will ultimately choose to repeat their grade, the Courier-Journal reported. Previous estimates from district and state officials put the figure around 3% of students in each district, the newspaper reported.
Sawyer Edens, a freshman at Paul Blazer High School in Ashland, told WSAZ that starting ninth grade over would allow him to focus on college courses by the time he becomes a senior.
“I’ll save lot of money doing them here,” Edens told the television station. “It’s cheaper doing them at the high school versus doing them at an expensive university.”
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