Kentucky 2025 Regular Session

Kentucky House Bill HB208 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version

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AN ACT relating to technology in public schools. 1 
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2 
Section 1.   KRS 158.165 is amended to read as follows: 3 
(1) (a) The board of education of each school district shall adopt[develop] a policy 4 
regarding the possession and use of a personal telecommunications device by 5 
a student while on school property or while attending a school-sponsored or 6 
school-related activity on or off school property, and shall include the policy 7 
in the district's written standards of student conduct.  8 
(b) The policy shall, at a minimum, forbid a student's use of a personal 9 
telecommunications device during the school day, except during an 10 
emergency or if directed to do so by a teacher for an instructional purpose. 11 
(c) A student who violates the policy shall be subject to discipline as provided by 12 
board policy. 13 
(2) As used in this section, "personal telecommunications device":  14 
(a) Means a device that emits an audible signal, vibrates, displays a message, or 15 
otherwise summons or delivers a communication to the possessor, including[,] 16 
but not limited to[,] a paging device and a cellular telephone; and 17 
(b) Does not include any device a student is authorized to use pursuant to the 18 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. sec. 1400 et seq., the 19 
Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 12101 et seq., or the 20 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. sec. 701 et seq., or successor acts. 21 
Section 2.   KRS 156.675 is amended to read as follows: 22 
(1) The Kentucky Board of Education shall promulgate administrative regulations to 23 
prevent social media and sexually explicit material from being transmitted via any 24 
video or computer system, software or hardware product, or Internet service 25 
managed or provided to local schools or school districts. 26 
(2) Each local school district and school shall utilize the latest available filtering 27  UNOFFICIAL COPY  	25 RS BR 120 
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technology to ensure that social media and sexually explicit material is not made 1 
available to students. 2 
(3) The Kentucky Department of Education shall make available to school districts and 3 
schools upon request and without cost, state-of-the-art software products that enable 4 
local districts and schools to prevent access to social media and sexually explicit 5 
material. The department shall also notify all school districts and schools of the 6 
availability of the software. Any product provided or obtained by a district or 7 
school shall meet the requirements of subsection (2) of this section. 8 
(4) Each local school district shall establish a policy regarding student internet access 9 
that shall include[,] but not be limited to[,] parental consent for student internet use, 10 
teacher supervision of student computer use, and auditing procedures to determine 11 
whether education technology is being used for the purpose of accessing social 12 
media or sexually explicit or other objectionable material. 13 
(5) The provisions of subsections (1) to (4) of this section shall only apply to social 14 
media that a student is not authorized by a teacher to access for an instructional 15 
purpose. 16