Kentucky School Advocate
February 2022

US DOT issues waiver to help bus driver shortage
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Jan. 4 that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is giving states the option of waiving the portion of the commercial driver’s license (CDL) skills test that requires applicants to identify the “under the hood” engine components. All other components of the written and road test remain.

The waiver was in response to the nationwide school bus driver shortage.

“We’ve heard from educators and parents that labor shortages, particularly of bus drivers, are a roadblock to keeping kids in schools. Today’s announcement will give states the flexibility they need to help increase the pool of drivers, who are a key part of the school community, and get kids to school safely each day where students learn best,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Drivers receiving a CDL under the temporary waiver are permitted to operate intrastate school buses only; they are not authorized to operate trucks, motorcoaches, or any other type of commercial motor vehicle requiring a CDL. The waiver expires March 31.

12 districts selected for high-quality local curriculum pilot 
The Kentucky Department of Education has selected 12 school districts for a pilot program to help schools and districts develop high-quality local curriculum.

The districts chosen for the Designing High-Quality Local Curriculum Pilot include:

• Anchorage Independent.
• Barbourville Independent.
• Carroll County.
• Caverna Independent.
• Estill County.
• Garrard County.
• Graves County.
• Livingston County.
• Perry County.
• Robertson County.
• Walton-Verona Independent.
• Williamstown Independent.

The program is designed to help schools and districts develop a standards-aligned local curriculum that includes high-quality instructional resources aligned to the process established in the Model Curriculum Framework.

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented interruption in learning, and has impacted education across the nation. In order to improve student outcomes, schools and districts need to create curricular coherence, which means aligning the standards, curriculum, instructional resources, assessment, and instructional practices and professional learning within and across grade levels.

“By having aligned work at the state, district and school level, there is a greater potential for sustained impact and increased student success,” said Education Commissioner Jason Glass. “This pilot will serve as a model for multi-level, multi-year engagements that produce best practices for instructional leadership across the state.”

Participants in the pilot will regularly provide feedback on the district and school experience and share information, artifacts and data to help measure the effectiveness of the pilot and impact future work across the state.

The pilot group will work through June 2023.

New KDE director of government relations  
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has hired Brian Perry as director of government relations. Perry will serve as the primary legislative liaison for the agency. He will coordinate the development of legislative policy and agendas, track education legislation and coordinate legislative committee requests for information and testimony.Perry, who began the new role on Jan. 18, also will work directly with KDE associate commissioners and assigned policy advisors on legislative concerns and represent the department on matters before the General Assembly, the governor’s office and other officials.

Perry previously served as the legislative liaison for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) managing government affairs for the 16 colleges that make up KCTCS.

Perry is a Woodford County native and a graduate of Woodford County High School. He received bachelor’s degrees in both psychology and justice and policy studies from Guilford College (Greensboro, N.C.), and a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Eastern Kentucky University. He is pursuing a doctorate in education policy and evaluation at the University of Kentucky.