The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Lambda Legal announced the federal lawsuit Tuesday, saying the law passed earlier this year by the Republican-led Legislature and enacted this fall "seeks to silence LGBTQ+ students, erase any recognition of LGBTQ+ people from public schools, and bans books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content."

About 70 years after Louisville was chartered as a city and about 20 years before the first Kentucky Derby was held, a four-room schoolhouse was built in western Louisville. It still welcomes students each morning.

Principal Patrick Smith says the phone ban has made kids more engaged in class and with each other. "Let's be real, with these devices, our students—especially our teenagers—there's a lot of drama that comes from social media, and a lot of conflict that comes from it," he noted.

For years, students in special education and English language learners programs underperformed relative to peers in general education classes, Skipper said. Black and Latino students especially were more likely to be placed in such classrooms and be kept there for longer, even if the curriculum did not serve them.