Kentucky School Advocate

February 2025

For the second time in three months, Bath County voters rejected the district’s request for a nickel tax in order to build a new middle school. 

In the latest vote on Jan. 14, the nickel tax failed in the special election by a vote of nearly five to one. 

“It’s a sad day for students because we are depriving them of something they desperately need. This community is going to find out down the road that this middle school is not going to hold up,” Bath County Schools Superintendent Steven Evans told WDKY-TV. 

The nickel tax would have added a property tax of about five cents for every $100 of property value, meaning that for a home worth $150,000, the median home value in the county, the tax would be $75 more a year.

In November, voters also rejected the nickel tax on the general election ballot. In that vote the tax was defeated by a nearly three to one margin. 

In light of the tax’s defeat, Evans said the district will miss out on state equalization funding and will have to renovate the middle school with available funding. 

The estimated cost of a new middle school is $35 million and the current school needs $28 million in renovations, he said. 

“We only have $10 million. We have $7 million from the state that has to be spent by December of 2026, so we will end up putting that $7 million into a renovation that will probably cover the air conditioning, the HVAC,” he said.

Kentucky’s 4th-grade math students saw an increase in scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Only 14 other states made statistically significant gains in 4th-grade math during this testing cycle.

The rest of Kentucky’s scores in 4th-grade reading and 8th-grade math and reading held steady, marking the first time Kentucky students have progressed or held steady on NAEP since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commonwealth’s students also were above the national average in both 4th- and 8th-grade reading, as well as 4th-grade math.

“I am pleased to begin to see evidence of success for all of the hard work put in by Kentucky’s public school educators to help their students recover from the impacts of COVID,” Kentucky Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher said. “We believe this is a step in the right direction, and I know that our educators are making a true impact on the lives of their students.”

NAEP is the country’s only nationally representative and continuing survey of students’ educational achievement. The assessment is authorized by Congress and directed by the National Center for Education Statistics. In Kentucky, a representative, random sample of 4th- and 8th-graders are tested every two years in reading and mathematics.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has lifted long-held policies that limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from entering designated areas such as schools, hospitals or places of worship (without special authorization) for the purposes of apprehending undocumented immigrants.

The change in policy has prompted schools to discuss with their employees protocols for interacting with federal agents, informing families of changes and the handling of sensitive information of students/families.

The Kentucky Department of Education has issued guidance on responding to immigration issues in schools. The document can be found at bit.ly/KDEICEguidance. 

The four-page document explains what student information can be released and how schools should respond if ICE agents arrive. It also advises districts to “work closely with legal counsel to determine what is required of the school and the district to comply.” 

Kentucky’s two largest school districts, Jefferson County and Fayette County, have also issued guidance to administrators and school staff.