FRANKFORT, Ky. — A state senator wants to give home school and private school students more options to better their education by allowing them to enroll in public school part time. 

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Bill 210 is moving through the legislature
  • It allows part-time enrollment in public schools

  • This would be available for public and home school students

  • The bill passed Thursday through committee 

Senate Bill 210 expands on a measure passed by the legislature in 2021, HB 563, which allows students to enroll in schools outside their home district. 

Bill sponsor Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said his bill builds on this concept. 

“Just up front, the two main ultimate goals of SB 210 are more choice in the public system and the removal of any barriers for economically disadvantaged students that may be in the system,” West said.

SB 210 would allow private and home school students to enroll part time in a public school. They could also be on sports teams. 

“This part-time student is subject to the same eligibility requirements as the other children in the school,” West said.

This measure would also not allow part-time enrollment in more than one district. 

“Those students can take advantage of career and technical education, science, math, whatever they're not being offered at that school,” West said.

Some school district leaders spoke against the bill during Thursday’s committee meeting, expressing concerns with how some sections are currently written, including in the definition of part-time student

“I would be concerned that little Billy, who maybe loves soccer, comes to us so that he could participate in soccer," said Billy Parker, superintendent of Scott County Schools. "He enrolls in one class for us." 

"We don't know what he's doing through the course of the day. At the end of the day, I know that workforce development is something that everybody in this room is concerned with, and I’d be concerned that we're not putting out the type of student for the state of Kentucky that I know that we all want to see.”

“That's not what this bill is intended to do,” West said in response to that concern. “We are open to a floor amendment or something of that nature to define 'part time' and what that means.”

The bill now heads to the full Senate, where amendments could be filed to clean up certain language. 

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