AN ACT relating to Kentucky educational excellence scholarships and declaring an emergency.
SB61 revises Kentucky’s Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program, updating scholarship award amounts and eligibility rules across high school and postsecondary pathways. The bill increases the base KEES scholarship amounts tied to GPA, raises ACT-based supplemental awards, and expands/updates supplemental awards for AP, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge Advanced International exams for students who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during high school. It also updates the scholarship treatment for students in approved foreign exchange programs, Congressional Page School, military-connected students attending out-of-state or Department of Defense schools, and students who graduate after three years of high school under Kentucky graduation standards.
The bill also modernizes and broadens access to KEES for certain nontraditional pathways. It increases awards for students in comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities or alternative diplomas, and it expands KEES reimbursement eligibility to apprenticeships, workforce training programs, proprietary school programs, approved workforce solutions training programs, and eligible colleges of art and design. The bill revises definitions, reporting requirements, award retention rules, and administrative authority for the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA), and it declares an emergency so the act takes effect July 1, 2026.
SB61 would amend multiple sections of KRS Chapter 164 governing KEES, increasing scholarship dollar amounts and changing how awards are calculated and administered. It would require KHEAA and participating schools to use updated GPA, ACT, and exam-score reporting rules, and it would expand the set of students and programs that can receive KEES funds, including students in military, exchange, transition, apprenticeship, workforce, proprietary, and art-and-design pathways. The bill also updates related definitions and reporting obligations for high schools and postsecondary institutions, while preserving existing limits on eligibility duration and award reductions based on academic performance.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears generally supportive of student financial aid expansion and modernization. Its stated purpose is to strengthen assistance for Kentucky students pursuing higher education, and the emergency clause suggests an intent to implement the changes quickly. No recorded opposition or formal debate is available in the supplied context, so the overall sentiment can only be characterized as favorable to scholarship access and award increases.
The main policy questions raised by the bill are likely fiscal and administrative rather than ideological: higher award amounts and broader eligibility categories could increase costs to the scholarship program, and KHEAA would need to implement new reporting and verification procedures. Potential points of contention include whether the state can sustainably fund the larger base and supplemental awards, whether expanding eligibility to workforce and nontraditional programs dilutes the traditional college-going focus of KEES, and how to verify eligibility for out-of-state, military, exchange, and alternative education pathways. No specific objections are documented in the provided committee materials.