AN ACT relating to student journalist freedom.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to state legislative findings; define terms; establish additional free speech protections for student journalists; place limitations on additional protections; establish protections for student media advisors; require each local school board to adopt a written policy for time, place, and manner restrictions and for an appeals procedure; provide that student speech not be considered school speech; allow that a student journalist or student media advisor to seek injunctive relief; provide that the Act may be cited as the New Voices Act.

Introduced: January 7, 2025

Last action: January 9, 2025

To Education (S)

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This bill, known as the New Voices Act, would give student journalists at Kentucky schools added free speech protections and shield faculty media advisors from retaliation related to student reporting. It would require local school boards to set written policies on when, where, and how student media can operate, and it would allow students or advisors to go to court to enforce these protections. The bill also clarifies that student journalists' speech would not automatically be treated as speech by the school itself. Who it may affect: student journalists, faculty media advisors, and local school boards across Kentucky.

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