J.T. Payne, an agriculture teacher and the next state representative for Henderson County, was recently named assistant principal for the Henderson County High School Career and Technical Education unit.
Payne’s new job at the high school will begin in August at the start of the new school year. Additionally, he’s running unopposed for the seat that current state Rep. Jonathan Dixon is vacating and will report to Frankfort in January for the start of the next legislative session.
There’s been some speculation about how Payne, who also is the faculty advisor for HCHS’s FFA chapter, would be able to remain at HCHS while also taking on his new position as a legislator.
He said his new position as CTE assistant principal comes with a contract with fewer work days than as an agriculture teacher, which is a 12-month contract.
He said he’d be able to work in Frankfort next year while also fulfilling the terms of his CTE assistant principal contract.
He added, though, that he’d most likely have to take care of school administrative paperwork on some evenings after his legislative day had come to a close.
In previous interviews, Payne has said that he will not accept any payment from his teaching work while he is working in Frankfort, and he repeated that Tuesday afternoon in an interview with the Hendersonian.
Payne said new legislation passed in the most recent General Assembly session puts into place performance-based funding for CTE programs. It takes into effect the number of students in CTE classes, the number of students who completed college dual credit classes, scores for end of program assessment and number of students who took part in work-based learning, Payne said.
He said the HCHS CTE unit will need to improve upon the number of students participating in both dual credit classes and work-based learning programs in order to grab the CTE unit’s fair share of state funding.
Payne, a lifelong resident of Henderson County and native of Reed, is very active in community organizations.
In an HCHS news release announcing his new position, a listing of his community involvement was included. Here’s a sample:
- Chair of the Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee
- Henderson Farm Bureau Board
- Murray State Hutson School of Agriculture Alumni Board, President-Elect
- Henderson Education Foundation
- Superintendent’s Advisory Council
- City of Henderson Vision Committee
- HCHS Site-Based Decision-Making Council
- Henderson Leadership Initiative participant
- Kentucky Association of Career and Technical Education Leadership Fellow
The Kentucky Association of Agricultural Educators selected Payne as the recipient of the 2022 Kentucky Teachers Turn the Key Award and he was also chosen as both Henderson Chamber of Commerce and Murray State University’s 20 under 40 honorees in 2023, according to the release.
A graduate of Henderson County High School, he later received a Bachelor’s in Agricultural Education from Murray State University where he served as Student Government President and Outstanding Spring 2019 graduate. He also earned a Master’s in Teacher Leadership in 2021 and a Master’s in Education Administration in 2024 from MSU.
