With specifics still to work out, Kentucky public school students in grades K-12 can now make requests to participate in the new Supplemental School Year Program.
The program, basically, allows students to re-take current year courses or participate in logical extensions of a course. The General Assembly passed the bill and Governor Beshear signed it into law. State Education Commissioner Jason Glass said students have until May first to make those requests. “Those could be academic experiences that students have, but they could also be school and community related experiences that students missed out on. So, it’s kind of a do over year for students that want that,” said Glass.
Under the law, local school boards have until June first to decide whether to accept all the requests for a supplemental school year or no requests. Glass noted the program would come into play for the next school year only. “I think the overall impact is going to be small because there aren’t going to be a lot of students that will want to do this and then we’re going to have to work through the technical details of how exactly this works in terms of funding and educational measurements and logistics and staffing, but we’ll figure it out. We can do anything for a year,” explained Glass.
Depending on the response from students, Glass said the supplemental year could create staffing issues. The education commissioner said that won’t be determined until requests are tallied.
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