In Kentucky, students have yet to be formally included in many of our schools’ most significant governance bodies. But as primary constituents of our schools who spend 35 plus hours per week in the classroom, students can and should be supported as partners in this work.

To that end and upon learning that the superintendent of Fayette County Public Schools had left, the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team asked the Board of Education to include a student on its superintendent screening committee. The Board informed us, however, that their hands were tied by Kentucky law which prohibited a student from being included.

KRS 160.352 sets the membership of the superintendent screening committees at two teachers, one principal, one parent, one Board member, one classified employee, and, in some cases, one minority member. The Student Voice Team drafted House Bill 236, sponsored by Representative Derrick Graham (D-Frankfort), which amends the law to add an optional, peer-elected high school student. The district Board of Education can choose to add the student but is not required to.

House Bill 236, the Student Super Bill, was passed by the House with a vote of 88 to 5. After students testified in the Senate Education Committee, it was recommended to the floor favorably. However, on the evening of Monday, March 9th, Senators CB Embry (R-Morgantown) and Albert Robinson (R-London) amended House Bill 236.

These unfriendly amendments will effectively kill the bill. The amendments add pieces of legislation sponsored by Senators Embry and Robinson which had passed the Senate but would not be heard in the House. Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonsburg) has said that the bill will not be brought up for a vote in the House if the amendments are still on it.

Both Senators claim to support student voice, but their amendments jeopardize the passage of a historic piece of legislation which will show Kentucky’s support for student voice. Students worked tirelessly at the Capitol to get the amendments rescinded, to no avail. House Bill 236 was not heard in the legislature on Wednesday.

It is our understanding that the bill can be heard after the recess on Monday, March 23rd. Sign this petition to call upon the leadership of the Senate and Senators Embry and Robinson to remove Senate Floor Amendments 1, 2, 3, and 4 from House Bill 236.

You can also call the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181 and tell your own Senator, Senators Emby, and Senator Robinson, “To remove Senate Floor Amendments 1, 2, 3, and 4 on House Bill 236.” Additionally, you can tweet @KYSenateGOP and use the hashtags #SaveOurBill and #StudentSuperBill.