The board, which currently consists of five elected members, would expand to seven under new language added to Senate Bill 4. The two new seats at the table would be occupied by at large members selected by the state treasurer, with an eye toward increasing the financial know-how on the board.
Lexington Democratic Rep. Adrielle Camuel asked why the appointed members couldn't comprise a kind of sub-committee rather than join the board as full voting members.
"To me, that would make more sense than having people who may or may not be as well-versed or trained up, if you will, on all issues that school boards deal with," she said.
Rep. Scott Lewis, a Hartford Republican, said it's often the boards that are less fluent in the financial aspects of the district.
"The finance officer can present whatever they want to the board and there's going to be no questions asked at all because they don't understand," he replied. "So myself, as a former superintendent, I think that the two appointed ones with the financial background need to be full members of the board."
The latest version of the priority Senate bill also limits board members from working in school districts for more than 100 days a year. That could apply to Fayette School Board Chair Tyler Murphy, who teaches in Woodford County.
Murphy told the Lexington Herald-Leader that, "It doesn’t make much sense that a bill claiming to strengthen school boards by adding individuals with certain ‘expertise’ would simultaneously ban those with classroom expertise from serving."
The bill, which is on its way to the full House, isn't solely focused on Fayette County. It would also remove two elected members of Jefferson County's seven-member board and replace them with the treasurer-appointed members.