Bill passed by KY lawmakers would bar Fayette school board chair from running again

The Kentucky House and Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would stop Tyler Murphy, chairman of the Fayette County Board of Education, from running for re-election, according to the bill sponsor.

Senate Bill 4 says board of education members in large school districts — Fayette and Jefferson counties — can’t also be employees of a board of education if their job requires them to work more than 100 days per year. That would appear to disqualify Murphy, who also is a teacher in Boyle County.

Steve West, sponsor of Senate Bill 4, told the Herald-Leader this about what passage of the bill means for Murphy:

“It will not affect him immediately. He will be able to serve out his term (which ends in 2026), but will not be able to run after that,” said West, R-Paris.

Murphy was set to be up for reelection this year, but he has not yet filed to run again. One competitor has filed to run in his district.

West said the bill now goes to Gov. Andy Beshear to sign or veto it, but the legislature could override his veto

Scottie Ellis, a spokesperson for Beshear, a Democrat, would not say Thursday morning if he would sign or veto it.

Typically, Ellis said, “we don’t comment on his decision until he takes action.”

The passage of SB 4 late Wednesday was preceded by a separate, but similar, effort to implement the same rule in a different piece of legislation: Senate Bill 1. Republican Rep. Jason Nemes had filed a floor amendment Tuesday seeking to insert the same rules into SB 1. He dropped his request to include that language, but it passed in SB 4 anyway.

A teachers’ union on Wednesday criticized the attempt to place new rules on the large school districts’ boards.

“This last minute floor amendment adds a provision that would exclude any active educator from running for the Jefferson County or Fayette County school board,” the KEA post said.

In a prior version of SB 4, lawmakers also had attempted to mandate that two extra board members be appointed to Fayette and Jefferson counties’ school boards. These two members would be in addition to the members elected by local residents, but they would be appointed by the state treasurer and would need to have expertise in finance. Concerns about school districts’ budgets were prominent in the legislature after FCPS faced a major budget deficit last year. But that portion of the legislation did not survive, according to West.

SB 4, in its original form filed by West, was simply a principal training bill. However, the House made changes to the legislation that included the provision affecting Murphy. The Senate refused to agree to the changes, and the bill went to a conference committee to iron out the differences.

At about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, West told the Herald-Leader that a conference committee had reached the resolution to leave in the language that affected Murphy.

The JCPS board would be reduced from seven to five members under this legislation, West said.

The full House approved those changes Wednesday. The Senate passed the bill 28-7.

Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, was among those speaking against the bill, saying it was setting a dangerous precedent.

West had said if SB 4 passed, it would go into effect immediately. However, Murphy would still be able to serve out his term, he said.

Murphy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Not the first effort to remove Tyler Murphy

There has been another effort to remove Murphy from the school board. A petition for removal was filed against him to the Kentucky House Impeachment Committee this year, but it was not acted on by the committee.

This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 3:30 PM.