STATEMENT REGARDING HB 525

The Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA), comprised of more than 3000 local school leaders who represent every Kentucky school district, is opposed to HB 525. Some may assume that KASA is opposed because our organization is not one of the named organizations in the legislation that would nominate a member to the newly constituted TRS Board of Trustees. But that is not the source of our opposition. KASA has never had a direct role in nominating a specific TRS board member, but we have had numerous members of KASA selected to the TRS board over the years under the current process.

Our opposition to HB 525 is based on the fact that we believe it is unnecessary, and actually negatively impacts the role of TRS members in the operation of their retirement system. There is no evidence to suggest that the current board selection and operations structure is ineffective. In fact, there is substantial evidence to the contrary. TRS remains one of the best-managed retirement systems in the country.

The current nomination and election process assures that active and retired teachers and administrators have a significant role in the effective oversight of TRS. The new process proposed by HB 525 diminishes that role, and could actually result in zero active or retired members of TRS being on the Board of Trustees.

KASA believes there is no sound policy argument that has been or can be articulated to justify the massive changes in TRS governance proposed by HB 525. For that reason, we oppose its passage.