In February of this year (2024) Kentucky lawmakers introduced a bill that would require cursive handwriting to be taught in public schools, beginning in 2025.
The bill, SB 167, passed the Kentucky House before being sent to the Senate lawmakers. After some amendments and committee deliberation, the final bill was brought to a vote and passed on April 12th, 2024.
Five days later, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky signed the bill into law on April 17th.
Here’s a short video of the news:
Cursive handwriting has been taught nearly throughout recent history in public schools. Script handwriting was the preferred method, and children often learned to read and write in cursive at a young age.
In February of 2010, Kentucky became the first state to adopt the Common Core State Standards, which did not require students to learn cursive writing. (This is a decision many states also made, effecting many in Gen Z and Gen Alpha. The ramifications could be big, including influencing elections.)
Seven years later, in 2017, Kentucky repealed the decision to implement Common Core, possibly paving the way for a return of cursive writing in schools.
And on April 17th, Governor Andy Beshear signed SB 167 into law, requiring students learn cursive beginning in the 2025 school year.
Note: Keep up with all current cursive events (and there is lots of them!) by looking at our cursive news page.
The bill requires that students be proficient in cursive handwriting by the end of the 5th grade. While there aren’t many details as to the instruction and testing requirements, many schools begin between 2nd and 3rd grade, continuing until the end of primary or elementary school.
Since Kentucky hasn’t required cursive since before 2010, when Common Core standards were adopted, many schools stopped teaching cursive altogether.
Now, teachers and public school districts in Kentucky will have to find and implement cursive curriculum for their elementary students.
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