Kentucky Student Voice Team

Kentucky Student Voice Team

The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) is a youth-led nonprofit organization in Kentucky that conducts education research, produces student journalism, and advocates for policies affecting public K–12 education. The group originated within the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in 2012 and became an independent 501(c)(3) organization in 2021.

KSVT’s work has included statewide student surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the youth-run news site The New Edu, a 2024 “Myth Bus” tour to educate voters on a proposed constitutional amendment regarding public-school funding, participation in the Protect Our Schools KY campaign that helped defeat that amendment, and serving as lead plaintiff in a 2025 constitutional lawsuit on the adequacy and equity of Kentucky’s public education system.

History

The Student Voice Team was created in 2012 inside the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence to give Kentucky students a formal voice in shaping education policy. Student leader Andrew E. Brennen and adult ally Rachel Burg Belin are credited as co-founders. On February 5 2021 the Prichard Committee announced that the team had incorporated as an independent nonprofit under the name Kentucky Student Voice Team.

Programs and activities

Research and statewide surveys

• Coping with COVID Student-to-Student Survey – In 2020 KSVT surveyed about 13,000 Kentucky students across all 120 counties about academic and mental-health impacts of school closures, releasing a widely cited report and follow-up analysis.
• Race and equity studies – KSVT produced follow-up work on racial climate and federal relief investments, collaborating with partners such as Seek Common Ground.

Student journalism

In October 2022 KSVT launched The New Edu, an independent, student-run education journalism outlet.

Governance advocacy

The organization has promoted formal student roles in education governance. In 2021 Kentucky established a non-voting student member of the Kentucky Board of Education by administrative regulation.

Public campaigns

Protect Our Schools KY and Amendment 2 (2024)

In early 2024 the Kentucky General Assembly referred Constitutional Amendment 2 to the November ballot, seeking to permit public funds to support non-public K–12 education such as private-school vouchers. Education groups, educators, and students formed the coalition Protect Our Schools KY to oppose the measure.

“Myth Bus” tour

In October 2024 KSVT organized the **Amendment 2 “Myth Bus”** tour, a student-led series of mobile teach-ins across Kentucky to explain the amendment’s implications. Coverage by Spectrum News 1 and LEX18 highlighted students’ testimony about funding risks for rural districts and special education services.

Outcome

On November 5 2024, Kentucky voters rejected Amendment 2 by roughly a two-to-one margin. Press accounts noted that the measure failed in every county and that the student-driven campaign—including KSVT’s Myth Bus and related youth outreach—played a significant role.

2025 education adequacy lawsuit

On January 14 2025, KSVT and a group of student plaintiffs filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court alleging that Kentucky is failing to provide an “adequate and equitable public education” as guaranteed by Section 183 of the Kentucky Constitution. The Associated Press reported that the plaintiffs seek to compel the state to remedy funding disparities and unmet constitutional obligations, linking the effort to the landmark 1989 Rose v. Council for Better Education decision.

Leadership and people

KSVT describes itself as “youth-led and intergenerationally supported,” with students working alongside adult advisors in research, storytelling, and policy advocacy.

Founders and senior advisors

• Andrew E. Brennen — Co-founder, senior advisor and board chair; National Geographic Education Fellow and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree recognized for youth civic engagement.
• Rachel Burg Belin — Managing partner and, with Brennen and other students, co-founder; identified by Harvard Law School’s Youth & Media Lab as co-founder and managing partner.

 Courier-Journal commentary has described Belin’s role in mentoring student leaders and co-directing early Student Voice Team efforts.

Notable student leaders

• Luisa Sanchez — Cross-organizational coordinator and senior editor of *The New Edu*; co-author of the November 2024 Teen Vogue article on defeating Amendment 2 and a plaintiff in the 2025 adequacy lawsuit.
• Chase Colvin — Research lead and board member; named plaintiff in the 2025 adequacy case; profiled by the Courier-Journal for his role in KSVT’s “Rose revival” school-funding research.
• Khoa (Ai) Ta — Policy coordinator and board member; participated in the 2024 Amendment 2 “Myth Bus” tour and is cited in the Teen Vogue account of Kentucky students’ organizing against the amendment.
• Isabella Edghill — Editor-in-chief of *The New Edu*; co-author of the Teen Vogue article covering the defeat of Amendment 2.
• Ivy Litton — Policy coordinator and board member; speaker during the Myth Bus tour and listed by Harvard Law School Y-Lab as a 2025 Art of Social Change panelist.
• Milo Osborn — Student advocate quoted in Teen Vogue’s account of the Amendment 2 campaign regarding disability inclusion.
• Georgie Farmer — Student leader featured in KSVT post-lawsuit commentary and identified by the NewSchools Venture Fund as a KSVT policy committee member.
• Emanuelle Sippy — Former co-leader of KSVT during the COVID-19 research phase; featured in statewide television coverage and later recognized by the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards for civic leadership.
• Zoë Jenkins — Former board member and senior advisor; National Geographic Young Explorer and participant in global education and climate forums.

Additional current or recent board members and advisors listed on KSVT’s public leadership roster include Maanya Sankara, Eliza Jane Schaeffer, Rainesford Stauffer, Audrey Gilbert, Nicholas Hazelett, Minhal Nazeer, Viet Pham, and Anvika Vangala.

Reception and media coverage

KSVT’s research and campaigns have been covered by local and national outlets including the Associated Press, Kentucky Lantern, Courier-Journal, Spectrum News 1, LEX18, and Teen Vogue. Observers have cited the team’s youth-led model as a case study in student participation in democratic decision-making.

See also

• Education in Kentucky
• Rose v. Council for Better Education
• Student voice

External links

• Official website
• The New Edu student journalism site

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