Kentucky Senate Passes Bill that Would Give High School Students Additional Year

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The state of Kentucky has been a major topic of discussion in the world of sports thanks to a proposed bill that would allow public high school students to receive a fifth year of eligibility during the 2021-22 school year.

The proposed bill, referred to as Senate Bill 128, would provide an opportunity for high school students enrolled in Kentucky to request to use the 2021-22 school year as a supplemental school year so they can retake, and supplement, coursework already completed. The bill comes after last year’s academic and athletic interruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kentucky state Senate passed this piece of legislature by a unanimous 36-0 tally and it will now head to the House for a final vote.

If passed into law, local school districts when then have discretion to either approve or deny requests by students who desire to use the 2021-22 school session as a supplemental year.

As far as high school athletics go, if students are approved, they can then participate in sports and all other KHSAA activities as long as they do not violate the KHSAA’s Bylaw 2, which states “a student who becomes 19 years old before August 1 shall be ineligible for interscholastic athletic competition at a KHSAA member high school.

At the moment, it’s unclear what kind of support this bill has in the House and with Governor Andy Beshear, who would ultimately decide whether to make the legislation law.