House Bill 151, also known as the “Neighborhood Schools Bill,” is coming up for a vote

Dear JCPS families and staff:

House Bill 151, also known as the “Neighborhood Schools Bill,” is coming up for a vote in the Senate Education Committee as soon as this evening or tomorrow.

Many of you have asked how you can express your concern to legislators about this bill as it is written. The Legislative Message Line is 1-800-372-7181.

Wednesday night, the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE) unanimously adopted a position in support of local control of student assignment. The position states:

Retain Local Control Over Student Assignment

Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) supports keeping the responsibility for student assignment to schools with local school boards, and strongly opposes legislation that would reduce or eliminate local control of student assignment. If legislation is enacted that requires any local school board to change its current student assignments, the legislation should also provide that the additional expense to the school district will be paid with state General Fund appropriations.

The JCPS analysis of HB 151, as it passed the House, shows that it would have a significant impact on JCPS and create:

• Less choice – Limiting choice by potentially reducing seats in popular magnet programs and eliminating transfer opportunities.
• Less certainty – Significantly reducing certainty for families about which school their child would attend.
• Less equity – Reducing access to high-performing schools and schools with special programs for students who live farther away from those schools.
• Less diversity – Creating more schools that are more segregated by race and income.
• Lower student achievement – Increasing the number of students attending high-poverty and high-minority non-magnet schools.
• Less innovation – HB 151 would prohibit JCPS from creating new magnet schools or traditional schools.

More information regarding the impact of HB 151 on JCPS families and students can be found here.

Sincerely,

Donna M. Hargens, Ed.D.
JCPS Superintendent