Robbie Fletcher

Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher

The holidays are always a time to be thankful for what you have and to cherish the moments you have with loved ones, but it’s also a time to rest and reset for the new year.

We are hard at work at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) on finding solutions to today’s educational challenges. With the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE), we are committed to improving the future of all Kentuckians by providing leadership, advancing policy and cultivating community partnerships to ensure every student has equitable access to high-quality, lifelong learning.

Working with the legislature will be critical to accomplishing these goals. As they prepare for a new legislative session once the new year starts, we have developed a list of priorities we hope the legislature will take up as we examine areas of possible growth in education.

The largest area we have been working on is reimagining what Kentucky’s assessment and accountability systems might look like in the future. If you have followed what we as a department have been doing the last few years, dating back to before I was even commissioner, you already know that we have been working with a wide variety of community stakeholders on creating a new system that is more meaningful to our students and communities.

The Kentucky United We Learn Council will continue fostering conversations around innovative approaches to measuring student success. Members of the legislature have been part of these discussions, along with educators, administrators, community stakeholders and family members.

As the council’s work progresses, having the legislature as a willing partner and contributor to discussions about the future of Kentucky’s assessment and accountability systems will be important. We want to build a prosperous Kentucky, and one of the strongest steps we can take is to create an accountability system that is useful and meaningful to all learners.

Support for key programs also will be a top priority for us at KDE and the KBE. Board members developed a list of key initiatives – many of which we have worked with the legislature on – including more professional development to assist with the implementation of the Numeracy Counts Act (House Bill 162 from 2024) and more funding for literacy coaches to help implement the Read to Succeed Act (Senate Bill 9 from 2022).

We already have identified literacy and math as key areas to address, and I am hopeful our momentum in tackling the challenges we face in these areas will continue.

Many of these budgetary items will be things we work with legislators on for multiple years. The Kentucky General Assembly already passed a two-year budget for the Commonwealth last year, although we could always see additional budget requests make their way through the legislature in 2025. Some areas we hope to see additional funding for would be to support districts in implementing high-quality instructional resources and to invest in the ongoing maintenance and sustainability of the Kentucky Education Technology System.

Personally, I hope we can build some momentum toward funding for universal preschool and full-day kindergarten. Establishing a strong foundation for future learning early in a child’s life is critical if we want them to develop into successful adults. Most districts already provide full-day kindergarten for their families, especially after the legislature expanded funding in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, having the state cover that cost instead of districts pulling the money from their own budgets will help local leaders address other areas within their communities.

Efforts to recruit and retain educators will be another key area we hope the legislature will partner with us to address. My goal with KDE in the new year is to build a campaign to actively encourage more people to go into the teaching profession and to retain the educators we already have, building off the success of efforts like Educators Rising Kentucky and GoTeachKY.

Other efforts we hope to work on in the next few years is increased funding toward educator preparation programs, including collaboration with the Education Professional Standards Board and the Council on Postsecondary Education to update teacher preparation programs to ensure future educators are well-prepared. We also hope to work on other opportunities to expand funding for teacher scholarships, student teaching stipends and additional mentoring to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

We at KDE and KBE have many other goals in mind, and I encourage you to visit the KBE’s website to learn more about what we will be pushing for in the years ahead. Everything we do is in service to our schools, our communities and our families. With your input, our schools will be able to thrive.