Bill to expel students who assault school staff advances March 18, 2026 Sen. Matt Nunn, R-Sadieville, explains Senate Bill 101 would require school boards to expel students who assault school staff during Wednesday’s House Primary and Secondary Education Committee meeting. A high-res version is available here. FRANKFORT — A Senate bill that calls on school boards to expel students who intentionally physically harm teachers advanced from the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on Wednesday. Sen. Matt Nunn, R-Sadieville, said he’s spent the last two years working on Senate Bill 101. He said the legislation is the result of a conversation he had with a friend who told him her physical safety was at risk at school due to violent students who do not fear authority or consequences. “That just weighed on me,” Nunn said about the conversation. “I don’t think anybody should fear for their physical safety when they’re going to work, particularly our school teachers who do so much for our communities and young people.” Nunn said there are around 5,000 assaults against educators reported each year in Kentucky. One constituent told Nunn her student-involved assault left her seriously injured and ended her career. The student had assaulted a pregnant teacher before and was only suspended for a few days, she said. Under SB 101, school boards would be required to expel students in grades 6 through 12 for at least 12 months if the student “recklessly, with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or intentionally caused or attempted to cause physical injury to a school district employee on school property or at a school function.” Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, told Nunn he’s heard concerns from some people in his district about how the bill may impact students with disabilities. “When somebody has a disability, can you talk a little bit about what that looks like? Because we know that probably a lot of those ‘assaults’ take place in those types of classes,” Calloway said. Nunn said the disability would be taken into consideration, noting circumstances for students with an individualized education program (IEP). “If a student has an IEP, and this behavior is considered a manifestation of that disability that led to the IEP, they’d be exempted,” Nunn said. “For example, if they don’t have a disability that would lead to physical violence, then they wouldn’t have that exemption.” For the other students, SB 101 lays out “pretty strict” guidelines on what additional educational services can be offered to an expelled student, said Committee Chair Rep. Chris Lewis, R-Louisville. “It has to be offered at a location other than the school the student would have otherwise attended where the teacher would be, so there could be no contact with the teacher that assault occurred on,” Lewis added. “They would be provided no transportation. If they’re that dangerous, they don’t need to be riding with other kids on the school bus.” The bill would also prohibit expelled students from participating in extracurricular activities. Additionally, Lewis said the new version of SB 101 “clarifies the nature of infractions that shall result in expulsion by tying them back to current statute, and a district is not limited to using only these when they expel students.” Rep. Adrielle Camuel, D-Lexington, said she worries about the children who wouldn’t have alternative transportation if the school district doesn’t provide it. “I do worry about the kids who are struggling with trauma and maybe acting out inappropriately in school, that denying transportation for kids who don’t have transportation or are rural will impact them disproportionately,” she said. “Just looking at an equity standpoint there.” Nunn said he would worry about the safety of the other children if the expelled child was able to ride the bus. “Someone who will assault a teacher, he or she will certainly assault another student,” Nunn said. “While I do have compassion for that student, I also have compassion for other people in that classroom, in that building or on the school bus.” Lewis said there is nothing in the bill that would prohibit a school district from providing other services to the expelled students. “I want to make that clear. In this bill, it says that if you have good services in your district that will keep this kid away from the teacher that was assaulted, the employee, whoever it might be, you can still do exactly what you were doing,” Lewis said. SB 101 will now go before the full House for consideration after receiving a 14-1 vote in committee. In explaining his “yes” vote, Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington, thanked Nunn for the bill. “We need to be more concerned about the students that are behaving and protect them and their teachers than the ones that are causing all this trouble,” he added. The post Bill to expel students who assault school staff advances appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less