KY House refuses to approve provision that would save fast-growing virtual school

The Kentucky House of Representatives on Tuesday turned down the Senate’s merger of a bill that could keep a low-performing, fast-growing virtual school open with a bill granting five calamity days to weather-stricken districts.

Rep. Timmy Truett, R-McKee, was upset that the Senate last week attached a provision possibly saving Cloverport Virtual School to his House Bill 241 — legislation giving schools that missed days due to safety concerns a possible five days of relief from required attendance laws. Truett said at the time he would try to kill the revised bill.

“We voted to not concur,” Truett told the Herald-Leader Tuesday in an email. “This means that we will have free conference with House and Senate members to try and work something out.”

Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, chairman of the Senate Education Committee where lawmakers merged the two bills last week, did not immediately respond to a Herald-Leader question about what happens next.

House Bill 241 originally provided five calamity days that don’t need to be made up, and added time to the end of the school day, in districts that have been ravaged by flooding and winter weather this year. Several districts missed significant time after severe flooding last month.

The Senate Education Committee merged that bill with Senate Bill 268, which would bar the state from cutting funding or putting an enrollment cap on virtual schools for at least three years. Senate Bill 268 is sponsored by Sen. Aaron Reed, R-Shelbyville, and was previously approved by the Senate Education Committee.

The Kentucky Board of Education had sought an enrollment cap as Cloverport Independent School District, which has about 250 students enrolled in in-person classes and about 2,800 enrolled in a new virtual academy, came under fire for issues including poor test scores, failing to administer state tests to enough students and failing to comply with state regulations on class sizes

Cloverport Independent Superintendent Keith Haynes and some lawmakers have said the cap, which would essentially limit the number of virtual students at 10% of a school district’s in-person enrollment, would shut down the Kentucky Virtual Academy.

Haynes said Cloverport had changed the lives of many children who struggled in school.

Cloverport’s online program, Kentucky Virtual Academy, has a contract with Stride, a for-profit company that has been scrutinized in other states. The district pays the company much of the funds it receives from the state.

Kentucky Republican lawmakers have pushed for what they describe as school choice, which would allow for taxpayer funds to be used for programs other than public schools.

This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM.