A legislative task force is considering how the state could overhaul Jefferson County Public Schools.

The committee has been questioning JCPenney officials in Frankfurt, but last night the committee met in Louisville to hear directly from JCT students, teachers and parents.

Our June offer kicks off tonight's legislative update.

Central High School straddles Louisville's downtown in Weston as a magnet school where students have to apply.

It offers activities other schools don't.

I would never have these opportunities if I didn't come to Central because they have, like, amazing programs.

I don't know any other schools to have a mars soil program for high school students, and I could still pick a magnet class like law and government to really further my future.

The future of JCPenney in Central High School is up in the air.

The state legislature singled out the district, creating a task force to reconsider how JCPenney governs itself and if it should split into smaller districts.

Instead, we have a lot of issues that need to be fixed.

But I also feel like that's kind of a weird move to have the state come in and try and dictate and tell us what to do.

During 90 minutes of public comment, Jefferson County residents told the state task force what they need and don't need.

Dr. Polito can probably tell you that I have likely personally burned every bridge with district administration in my efforts to try and push CPS to be better.

And I say that.

So you know that I'm not just an apologist for the status quo.

I know we have serious work to do.

See, I've been teaching for 17 years and I cannot remember a time when our district has not been under audit, under threat of takeover.

Our students are under attack, our resources limited or our funding shortened.

All initiatives imposed from the outside in.

I cannot remember a time when state pressure has not led to more and more testing and less and less meaningful learning for the students in our most vulnerable schools.

I think there are lots of things that we would love to see happen in the school district to make sure that all of our students have the most open, equitable and best quality education that they can get.

But as you heard from many here, there are a lot of things, both in the district as well as out of the district that you could be working on and investing in to ensure that that happens, whether that is health, whether it's housing, whether that's transportation, whether that's poverty.

A state lawmaker on the committee says she values the public comment.

We're here to hear them.

That's why we came into the community.

And I really was very thrilled with the turnout.

We had quite a few speakers and we just want to I want to reassure all of them.

We're here to make sure every student is getting the best education possible.

First from students who are in our newcomer's academy, which is a growing population.

And we had someone speak to us about the multilingual learners.

That's a really important issue statewide wide, and it's a growing issue.

A state senator representing Jefferson County says he understands the contempt some law civilians might have for this process.

We don't have to split up, break up and use whatever angle.

Some individually have to deal with a system that they don't even deal in.

They don't deal in the system.

The state task force is set to report its findings by December 1st of this year.

However, some on the committee say it will take much more time to fully understand JCPenney and make legislative recommendations for Kentucky Edition.

I'm June Leffler.

The task force will host another public hearing at Louisville's Mile High School on September the 10th.