The Kentucky Senate filed an attack on healthcare for teachers in Kentucky with Senate Bill 351. This legislation would cause serious harm to Kentucky educators, conflict with established federal law, and require licensed mental health professionals to violate accepted standards of care. The KPA urges the General Assembly to reject this bill in its entirety.

SB 351 uses outdated laws and diagnosis to deny, revoke, or refuse to renew teaching certificates using the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.  This version of the ADA references a decades old diagnostic manual rather than current diagnostic standards. Psychology, like all sciences, evolves to reflect advances in understanding of neuroscience, epidemiology, medicine, and behavioral health. By anchoring this law to the outdated 1987 DSM-III-R, the bill invokes classifications the profession abandoned decades ago for lack of scientific support, including the characterization of homosexuality and gender nonconformity as diagnosable disorders. 

These requirements directly conflict with the ethics code of mental health professionals including the American Psychological Association Ethics code while also raising serious constitutional concerns around forced medical examination. Requiring Kentuckians to report one another by way of “complaints” and forcing compelled medical examinations based on “easily identifiable” signs of certain disorders also creates a concerning stigma around mental health. Constructing a statutory mechanism for reporting on the mental health of those around us amplifies the already impactful stigma around seeking help and support, as well as concerns related to misunderstanding and unreliable reporting. Further, the Bill does not specify whether reports should come from fellow school personnel or simply anyone who knows a teacher.

The Kentucky Psychological Association also opposes this bill because it adds yet another layer of hurdles to teacher certification at exactly the wrong moment—when Kentucky schools are already struggling to recruit and retain qualified educators. Expanding certification conditions and compliance requirements will predictably shrink the pipeline, discourage talented candidates (including career-changers and out-of-state applicants), and slow districts’ ability to fill classrooms with competent, trained teachers. At a time when students most need stable, high-quality instruction, Kentucky should be removing unnecessary barriers and modernizing pathways into the profession—not creating new ones that deepen shortages and disrupt learning.

Psychological science shows us  that LGBTQ+ youth are harmed by the absence of supportive educators. This bill would deter teachers from seeking mental health care, require sworn perjury statements about abandoned diagnoses, and remove qualified educators based on identity rather than conduct.

The Kentucky Psychological Association strongly opposes this bill.