SB 181 passed in the 2025 session and was signed into law with little pushback from lawmakers. The idea: to limit digital discussions between school staff and students to what was described as "traceable" forms of communication, such as school email or a special school-approved app.
Sen, Lindsey Tichenor said the goal was to protect students in an increasingly connected and difficult-to-monitor world.
"It will close a point of access that has been utilized by bad actors and will return previous safeguards that will protect students and families and uplift and protect our education profession," she said, introducing the bill on Senate floor.
The Lexington Herald-Leader notes that a study published in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse on Kentucky teacher misconduct cases showed 70% of those cases originated through private, electronic communication between a student and a teacher.
But the rollout has left some teachers and other school staff frustrated, saying the measure is creating unintended problems and shutting down lines of communication without replacements up and running.
That's led a Rowan County teacher, Allison Stone, to post a petition online urging the state to pause enforcement and amend the law.
"The ambiguous language and broad scope of SB181 have created confusion and fear among school employees, chilling their participation in personal, professional, and community activities that are unrelated to their duties in the educational system," the petition says.
Sen. Max Wise has said revisiting the legislation is a possibility.
"We could come back. We could easily do any type of cleanup that could be there... also working with our educational groups across Kentucky," he said.
The petition had over 13,000 signatures, as of Thursday.