Kentucky’s legislature unanimously approved a measure last year mandating that school employees and volunteers use traceable forms of communications when they contact students outside the classroom. But now, the bill’s original sponsor wants to fix some unintended consequences that teachers and education advocacy groups have brought to her attention.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Tichenor of Smithfield said the intent of Senate Bill 181, as written, was to prevent adults in positions of authority over students from having private, inappropriate communications with these children and teens.
But after the 2025 General Assembly wrapped up its session, concerns from educators arose about how the policy could have impacts stretching far beyond its original intended scope.
As it stands currently, school employees – like teachers and coaches – and volunteers have to communicate with students through approved traceable methods unless parents authorize them to reach their students through other channels.
Generally, this means school employees aren’t allowed to contact students through texting, phone calls, social media or other untraceable methods unless parents give them permission to do so. It even requires district emails to be designated by school boards as an acceptable form of traceable communication before teachers could use them to contact students.
This applies to both school and non-school related communications, according to an opinion from the Kentucky Attorney General’s office last year.
On Thursday, the state Senate’s education committee unanimously approved Tichenor’s new measure that she said was drafted after meeting with teachers and representatives from several education organizations to get their input on how to fine-tune the new law.
“We brought together a lot of ideas and were able to come up with some solutions that I think will meet the needs to make this bill effective, but not lose its intent,” Tichenor told committee members. “With every consideration and change to this legislation, I first run it by the victims [of sexual misconduct], because I want to make sure the integrity and the intent of this bill is upheld.”
One concern that has been raised about the 2025 version of SB 181 is its limited definition of a student’s family members who are exempt from the traceable communications requirements. The law currently defines eligible family members as a parent, brother, sister, son, daughter, aunt, uncle or grandparent – but does not include stepparents, stepchildren or cousins. Tichenor’s new bill – also numbered SB 181 for the 2026 session – would add language to clarify that these aforementioned family members can be related by blood, marriage or adoption to qualify for the exemption.
The measure would also make the distinction that the law forbids private electronic communication between a school-affiliated adult and a student or group of students in just the district the adult works or volunteers for – not students in every district. It also allows school employees to make public social media posts, even if students can find them.
Tichenor’s new bill additionally stipulates that schools cannot force parents to give permission for district employees or volunteers to contact their children directly through nonapproved channels for extracurricular activities. For example, school districts couldn’t require parents to give coaches permission to text their children under the bill’s proposed changes.
School districts have to notify the state’s Education Professional Standards Board if they receive allegations of certified employees using unauthorized communication channels to contact students. Tichenor said as of Jan. 6, the EPSB has received 82 complaints since the measure became effective last June. Tichenor said 35 of those complaints required “some level of investigation.”
At Thursday’s committee hearing, state Sen. Jimmy Higdon said this was a “teachable moment” about how bills that legislators draft may have unintended consequences. However, he also noted that the bill sailed through the state House and Senate and was signed into law before many constituents began to raise concerns about the legislation.
“We didn't hear a peep out of anybody till mid-July [2025], and all hell broke loose then,” Higdon told Tichenor at the hearing. “You've corrected all the things that were that people have concerns about. It's much better if we get those concerns while we're in session [when] we have time to correct them, rather than when we're not in session, and we can't do a thing about it.”
The bill now heads to the Senate floor for approval.
