The 1908 legislative session was the last one held in the Old State Capitol. Photo by the Royal Photo Co. KHS Collections.
By 1907, strong sentiment for education reform existed in Kentucky. The next year the Kentucky General Assembly passed a series of laws that earned it the title, “The Education Legislature.” One of the key bills passed was the Sullivan Law, named for Representative Jere A. Sullivan of Madison County. Approved March 24, 1908, this act made each county a school district, provided that by March 1910 every district should have a public high school, and required the counties to levy a property tax that would be set aside for education. Superintendent of Public Instruction John Grant Crabbe, the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, and other education supporters then launched “The Whirlwind Campaigns” to keep the issue of improving education in the Commonwealth at the forefront of the public’s attention.
The 1908 legislative session was the last one held in the Old State Capitol. Photo by the Royal Photo Co. KHS Collections.
