republic-os/legislation/us/states/ky/2026rs/hb-257.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to the education assessment and accountability system."
description: "Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; permit local school districts to develop and implement a local accountability system; require data publication on the local accountability system; require the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to provide technical assistance in the development of local accountability; permit KDE to incentivize local accountability; set the time frame for requiring local accountability in all local school districts; authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate necessary administrative regulations; amend KRS 158.6453 to update terminology regarding academic standards; remove specific writing and editing and mechanics as required summative assessments; require KDE to incorporate a writing program into academic standards and professional development; require school-based decision making councils to adopt a writing program policy and publish it on the school's website; remove requirement for KDE to establish recommendations on using preliminary assessment data to identify students for advanced coursework; amend KRS 158.6455 to add individual student growth metric and student engagement as state indicators in the accountability system, remove quality of school climate and safety as state indicator, remove \"status\" and \"change\" metrics from state accountability system; amend KRS 158.6459, 164.7874, and 157.069 to conform."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "HB 257"
citation: "Kentucky HB 257 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Administrative Regulations And Proceedings", "Boards And Commissions", "Education", "Elementary And Secondary", "State Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Chester-Burton", "D. Grossberg", "G. Brown Jr.", "J. Payne", "J. Tipton", "K. Jackson", "S. Lewis", "S. Riley", "T. Bojanowski", "T. Truett"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 45
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-01-08T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-13T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a059a0e6-3c1c-46c9-865e-8e0f32337715"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/hb257.html"
source_hash: "877eb3a8446d15b9f7cd4c81ab403f8028f9a7ad52405dee995710b69ddaf042"
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 HB 257 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to the education assessment and accountability system.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; permit local school districts to develop and implement a local accountability system; require data publication on the local accountability system; require the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to provide technical assistance in the development of local accountability; permit KDE to incentivize local accountability; set the time frame for requiring local accountability in all local school districts; authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate necessary administrative regulations; amend KRS 158.6453 to update terminology regarding academic standards; remove specific writing and editing and mechanics as required summative assessments; require KDE to incorporate a writing program into academic standards and professional development; require school-based decision making councils to adopt a writing program policy and publish it on the school's website; remove requirement for KDE to establish recommendations on using preliminary assessment data to identify students for advanced coursework; amend KRS 158.6455 to add individual student growth metric and student engagement as state indicators in the accountability system, remove quality of school climate and safety as state indicator, remove "status" and "change" metrics from state accountability system; amend KRS 158.6459, 164.7874, and 157.069 to conform.

## 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/26RS/hb257/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 138** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0138.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb257/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE OF HB 257 — **30–6** (pass) · lower
- PASS HB 257 w/ SCS 1, SFA 6 — **32–5** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **92–1** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage — **84–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. Chester-Burton — primary (person)
- D. Grossberg — primary (person)
- G. Brown Jr. — primary (person)
- J. Payne — primary (person)
- J. Tipton — primary (person)
- K. Jackson — primary (person)
- S. Lewis — primary (person)
- S. Riley — primary (person)
- T. Bojanowski — primary (person)
- T. Truett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-08T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-01-08T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-15T05:00:00+00:00** to Primary and Secondary Education (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-04T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-04T05:00:00+00:00** floor amendments (1) and (2) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-02-05T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-02-13T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, February 17 2026
- **2026-02-17T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 92-1 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** to Education (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** floor amendments (2) and (5) filed to Committee Substitute , floor amendments (1-title), (3) and (4) filed to bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (6) filed to Committee Substitute , floor amendment (7) filed to bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Friday, March 27 2026
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Floor Amendments (2), (3), (4), (5) and (7) withdrawn
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** passed 32-5 with Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (6) `passage`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (6)
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** House refused to concur in Senate Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (6)
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for receding from Senate Floor Amendment (6) and Committee Substitute (1)
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Senate refused to recede from Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (6)
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report (1) filed in House and Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report adopted in House and Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report filed in House and Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration of Free Conference Committee Report
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in Senate
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** passed 30-6 `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Rules
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration of Free Conference Committee Report
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in House
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** passed 84-2 `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 138) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a059a0e6-3c1c-46c9-865e-8e0f32337715`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).