KY Senate won’t agree to changing Fayette school board, ousting chair
The Kentucky Senate on Tuesday did not agree with legislation passed in the House that would put two appointed members on the Fayette County Board of Education in addition to the elected five, and would make the current board chair ineligible for his role.
As a result, Senate Bill 4 was assigned to a conference committee so that House and Senate members could iron out their differences. It was not immediately clear when that committee will meet.
The Senate made the decision by a voice vote without discussion.
Last week, the full House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 4 with a 74-15 vote. While the bill started in the Senate, the House made changes. So the Senate must agree to the changes for the legislation to be approved.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, originally only created a new Kentucky principal development program.
But a revised bill approved by the House Primary and Secondary Education committee says in large school districts — Jefferson County Public Schools and Fayette County Public Schools — there would be two members with expertise in finance appointed to the board by the state treasurer. That would be in addition to the current five elected seats on those boards.
The changes to Senate Bill 4 would also mean that Fayette school board chairman Tyler Murphy could no longer serve on the board. The revised bill says a board of education member cannot work in a Kentucky school district more than 100 days per year. Murphy is a full-time Boyle County school teacher.
Brenna Kelly, a spokesperson for the Kentucky School Boards Association, said on Tuesday that “as the House and Senate attempt to resolve their differences on SB4, KSBA urges the conference committee members to remove the bill’s provisions that alter the composition of local school boards and prohibit board service based on employment in another district.”
SB 4, as currently written, undermines authority of locally elected boards of education and diminishes the voices of nearly 1 million voters in Kentucky’s two largest school districts, she said.
KSBA believes that all individuals exercising governing authority over a local school district should be elected by the communities they represent. If appointments must be made, they should be made by individuals directly accountable to the voters of that district — not a partisan statewide elected official, she said.
“KSBA also opposes any provision that would restrict otherwise qualified tax-paying citizens from serving on a local board of education based on their employment in a separate school district,” Kelly said.
“Such limitations unnecessarily reduce the pool of experienced and knowledgeable candidates available for board service and undercut the principle that communities should decide who represents them through the electoral process.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 7:20 PM.