Legislation to provide much-needed flexibility to Kentucky’s school districts was rescued just hours after hitting a wall Wednesday in Frankfort during the special session.
Members of both parties are finding different parts of House Bill 1 disagreeable, from the nullification of a statewide mask mandate in public schools to differences over funding and COVID-19 vaccines.
First, in the afternoon, it failed to pass out of a House committee. But later, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kim Banta, was able to get four state lawmakers to change their votes.
All of them say they still have major problems with the bill, but want to move the discussion forward.
A companion bill, SB 1, has moved successfully through committee twice, but it may not be able to pass the House of Representatives at this point.
The legislation would give districts 20 days of remote learning, which they could apply to schools, classes or groups of students to help diffuse COVID-19 outbreaks.
But many Democrats oppose the provision that nullifies the statewide mask mandate for public schools.