---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to Kentucky educational excellence scholarships."
description: "Amend KRS 164.7884 to define \"proprietary school\" and \"qualified proprietary school program\" and allow use of KEES funds for enrollment in a qualified proprietary school program; amend KRS 165.7879 to allow a student who attends an out-of-state high school or Department of Defense school due to a parent's military transfer to earn a KEES award if the student earned a base amount in a previous year at a Kentucky high school."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2023RS"
identifier: "SB 54"
citation: "Kentucky SB 54 (2023RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education", "Finance", "Education", "Higher", "Education", "Vocational", "Military Affairs and Civil Defense"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2023-01-06T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-03-22T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c9ab7df9-8c01-4fb0-b7e5-8a154548b52a"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/23RS/sb54.html"
source_hash: "c8c121caa922cea9e536b359c66a9c2daf1f58071c1f3598bc732c401e2bd5f1"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky SB 54 (2023RS) — AN ACT relating to Kentucky educational excellence scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.7884 to define "proprietary school" and "qualified proprietary school program" and allow use of KEES funds for enrollment in a qualified proprietary school program; amend KRS 165.7879 to allow a student who attends an out-of-state high school or Department of Defense school due to a parent's military transfer to earn a KEES award if the student earned a base amount in a previous year at a Kentucky high school.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/23RS/sb54/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 67** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/23RS/documents/0067.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/23RS/sb54/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE SB 54 W/ hcs1 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Pass — **pass** (pass) · upper
- PASS SB 54 — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-01-06T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2023-01-06T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-07T05:00:00+00:00** to Education (S) `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-22T05:00:00+00:00** taken from Education (S)
- **2023-02-22T05:00:00+00:00** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2023-02-22T05:00:00+00:00** returned to Education (S)
- **2023-02-23T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 2nd reading, to Rules `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-23T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Friday, February 24, 2023
- **2023-02-24T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 33-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-28T05:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2023-02-28T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-02T05:00:00+00:00** to Education (H) `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-07T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2023-03-08T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2023-03-08T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 09, 2023
- **2023-03-10T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 93-0 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2023-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (S) `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in House Committee Substitute (1)
- **2023-03-15T04:00:00+00:00** Senate concurred in House Committee Substitute (1)
- **2023-03-15T04:00:00+00:00** passed 32 -0 ) `passage`
- **2023-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2023-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2023-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2023-03-22T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 67) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c9ab7df9-8c01-4fb0-b7e5-8a154548b52a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).