Kentucky officials say 171 districts adopted model policy after Senate Bill 5

Six months after Senate Bill 5 took effect on March 27, 2026, Kentucky Department of Agriculture officials told the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture that the law is moving from statute toward local practice. "There were a 171 districts that adopted the model policy," Heather Becker, general counsel for the Department of Agriculture, said during the committee presentation.

Becker and Dana Feldman, executive director of the KDA Office for Consumer and Environmental Protection, said the department worked with the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky School Boards Association to draft model policy language districts could adopt immediately. Becker said the model policy was released in May and adoption across districts establishes a baseline for districts to access the law's benefits without rewriting policy locally.

The department described follow-up work to translate policy into procurement changes: cohort learning groups with the Kentucky Education Development Corporation (KEDC), monthly technical assistance to nutrition directors and finance officers, and a planned "secondary bid" option to sit alongside prime vendor contracts. "When their Broadline distributor does not have the local option that they want, they can go on this option," Becker said, describing the secondary bid as a checkbox on contracts that would let districts select Kentucky-grown items without adding new distribution infrastructure.

KDA officials asked lawmakers to continue support for technical assistance, staffing and infrastructure that they said districts lack to operationalize the policy. They also described federal grant and USDA activity supporting similar goals and urged committee members to check with local superintendents and food service directors about adoption and operational needs.

The committee did not take formal action on new funding; the presentation closed to a question-and-answer period in which members pressed for more detail on district capacity and timelines.