(1) The commissioner of education shall be the chief executive of the Department of Education. The commissioner shall be responsible for administering, structuring, and organizing the department and its services, including but not limited to the following:
(a) Technical assistance with curriculum design, school administration and finance, computer and technology services, media services, community education, career and technical education, STEM education as defined in KRS 158.845, education for exceptional children, and professional development;
(b) Compensatory education;
(c) Research and planning, which shall include, but not be limited to, a statewide research and development effort to identify or develop the best educational practices to be used in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Appropriations for this purpose may be used within the department or for contracting with other individuals, agencies, universities, laboratories, or organizations;
(d) Kentucky School for the Blind and the Kentucky School for the Deaf;
(e) Performance and outcome assessments;
(f) Monitoring the management of school districts, including administration and finance, implementation of state laws and regulations, and student performance; and (g) Implementing state laws and the policies promulgated thereunder by the Kentucky Board of Education and the Education Professional Standards Board.
(2) The commissioner of education may delegate any authority to act on the commissioner's behalf in the supervision, inspection, and administration of the schools to the extent the commissioner has supervisory and administrative control.
(3) All employees of the Department of Education shall be reimbursed for necessary traveling expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties, and no part of the reimbursement shall be included in or accounted as a part of their salaries.
(4) The State Department of Education, in the operation and management of its schools and the programs at these schools, shall meet all required federal and state standards relating to facilities and personnel qualifications; however, no license or license fee shall be required for any school or program operated by the State Department of Education.
(5) The Department of Education shall be the sole state agency for the purpose of developing and approving state plans required by state or federal laws and regulations as prerequisites to receiving federal funds for elementary and secondary education.