As the 2026 legislature convenes Jan.6, lawmakers could be asked to revisit Kentucky's
switch to a different college entrance exam for high school juniors.
Kentucky high school students will take the SAT instead of the ACT starting this spring. In a recent op-ed, one education policy expert suggested the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) may have violated state law by switching to a different college admissions exam.
"It's very explicit in the law that the college entrance exam must assess English, reading math, and science," said Richard Innes, an education analyst with the free-market Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions. "The SAT simply doesn't do that."
The SAT generates a science score based on how students perform in the reading, writing, and math sections.
In a statement, the KDE said while state law requires students to be assessed in science, it doesn't require the exam to have a separate science section.
"Given the documentation from College Board and independent evidence from the U.S. Department of Education's peer review process, College Board's proposal was deemed to meet the statutory requirements," Jennifer Ginn, KDE's Director of Communications, said in an emailed statement to WKU Public Radio.
Innes also argues state law places the Kentucky Board of Education in charge of statewide assessments. A board vote on replacing the ACT never took place and it was the KDE, not the board, that signed the SAT contract.
"KDE, which follows Kentucky's Model Procurement Code that is codified in statute, operates as the procurement and implementation agent of the Board under delegated authority," stated Ginn. "Board oversight does not require a public vote on every vendor contract unless specified by statute or regulation."
Whether state law was violated or not, Innes maintains a shift away from the ACT will make it harder for taxpayers to understand how well Kentucky public schools are performing.
He says switching to the SAT will make it harder to compare Kentucky's scores with other states, and make it harder for families to know how well schools have performed in preparing students for college.
"We started using the ACT back in 2008," explained Innes in an interview with WKU Public Radio. "We now have an extensive trend line of performance from the ACT and that is going to be severed if we switch over to the SAT."
Innes says frequent changes in state assessments (KIRIS, CATS, K-PREP, and KSA) and the pandemic have prevented reliable long-term data from state tests.
The education policy analyst says erasing the ACT's trend line could potentially mask Kentucky's educational performance for years.
Innes also has concerns about the rigor of the SAT which has been shortened over the years.
Innes says the General Assembly has the authority to intervene. He cites a Kentucky Supreme Court decision that the legislature is ultimately responsible for ensuring an efficient education system.
The Bluegrass Institute report suggests the '26 legislature could take any of the following steps:
1. Restore the ACT as Kentucky's statewide college‑readiness exam.
2.Reaffirm in statute that the statewide exam must include separate assessments in English, reading, mathematics and science, exactly as KRS 158.6453 requires—thereby ruling out the SAT.
3. Require an open, public vote by the Kentucky Board of Education on any statewide‑assessment contract, in keeping with KERA's governance structure.
4. Enact a stability provision that prevents KDE from constantly replacing statewide assessments before they can produce meaningful trend lines.
A four-year contract with The College Board, which administers the SAT, was finalized in September by the KDE, which noted the SAT is widely accepted by four-year colleges and universities across the U.S.
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