Time now for our reporter's notebook.

And we're still talking about the Kentucky General Assembly session.

Right now, it's in a veto recess period.

But they resume on April the 14th.

And we're delighted to have Sylvia Goodman, who is the state Capitol reporter for Kentucky Public Radio, with us to dissect some of the developments here of late.

Good to see you, Sylvia.

Glad to be here.

So let's talk about some educational policies, particularly that affect Jefferson County, where you're situated.

There were several, but we'll talk about the one that really dealt with the composition and the number of the Jefferson County School Board.

Tell us what has what is final about this or we know at this point.

Right.

So I think you're referring to Senate Bill four.

And that is was late amended piece of legislation.

Initially it was a very bipartisan bill that created a principal, training program.

But it morphed, late in the session to also change the structure of, at this point, specifically, Jefferson County's board, limiting it, eliminating several seats to five.

It, Jefferson County is the only school board in the state that has seven seats.

It is also by far the largest school board in the state.

And it, I mean, not school board.

It's by far the largest school district in the state.

So it limits it eliminates two seats.

It would also then force an election at the end of this year.

So it completely also rewrites the districts.

Now, it allows the new school board, once it's in place, to redo the districts themselves also.

So it would only be for this election year, but it could be a pretty big shift for Jefferson County.

Those school districts look very different.

And school board members have to decide whether or not they're going to run for reelection at the end of this year.

We know of at least two who are not going to be.

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but there was also legislation that passed concerning the superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools giving him the current superintendent, Brian Yearwood.

More latitude when it comes to day to day operations and even how much he could spend, without having to have more fiscal oversight.

Exactly.

That is Senate Bill one.

It actually very closely mirrors legislation that lawmakers already passed, and that the Supreme Court recently overruled.

They have come back and fought and passed very similar, not totally identical legislation, but they've added on a list of their reasonings.

They said the Supreme Court, ruling left room for them to bring this legislation back, as long as they fully expounded why they felt that Kentucky's largest school district needed to have this specific shift in governance, that the, superintendent should have more authority over day to day affairs because of the complexity of the district versus the school board, which is elected superintendent, is appointed by that elected body.

So finally, in the few seconds you have remaining, what do you have your eye on when the session resumes for the final two days next week?

Well, the big bill I have my eye on is this housing omnibus bill.

It's a Senate bill that got stuffed with eight or more pieces of legislation in the final days of the session.

It really included all of the various housing measures that had been moving slowly or rapidly through the General Assembly, but it didn't make final passage.

And so really, what I'm waiting for here is to see if that, in any form ends up passing, and because there are certainly several parts of that that, Governor Beshear would likely sign that Democrats would support, but there are some parts that maybe are a little more contentious, especially around Airbnb short term rentals that was added in in the last minutes.

Yeah.

So I was just going to say, Sylvia, that that short term rental piece, I think give some of them some, some heartburn.

And so we'll see how they're able to reconcile that.

Well, thank you so much for being on top of it, Sylvia Goodman, who's the can Kentucky State Capitol reporter for Kentucky Public Radio.

We appreciate all you do.

And thank you for a few minutes today.

Thank you.