Welcome Back Students!

Welcome to the Kentucky FBLA 2025-2026 membership year!

New Chapter Management Platform

August 1 our national office transitioned to FBLA Connect to reflect this new term, and you can now begin to add members to demonstrate affiliation. This checks the box for those receiving Perkins funding to keep those dollars flowing your way. If this does not impact you, please know that entering your students early will help them reap the most benefits from their membership year for things like logging community service hours and to complete Business Achievement Awards among so many other useful tools.

New this year, all Kentucky FBLA conferences and events will utilize Blue Panda for registration, which means only those students logged as paid members in the national database will be able to attend. Those planning to attend regional fall conferences must be paid members by those conference deadlines to be able to register them. Blue Panda offers a wealth of organizational resources for those planning and organizing events but more over really covers us all from a liability standpoint to make sure only those with state and national affiliation are traveling with us.

Dues

Dues remain $14, $10 of which stays with the national office, and they send $4 back to Kentucky. The national office will continue to accept checks, ACH and card payments; however, after 12/31 they will switch that over to credit only to ensure fast turnaround times. When deadlines are on the line, we do not want to risk your students missing out on anything.

Updated forms have been added to Adviser Central, as well as emailed out to all advisers.

Go to Adviser Central

Competitive Event Submission Changes

Some of our submission processes will be changing this year, but we have created a tracker to get the information to you in one place. Information on how to submit your evidence will come with regional conference information for high school chapters and state conference information for our middle schools. You’ll have view only access, should you want to modify the file, a copy can be made.

This will include information on the following awards and recognition programs and can be found by clicking here:

• Reporter’s Quill (MS/HS)

• Local Leadership Challenge (MS/HS)

• Commonwealth Award of Merit (MS/HS)

Contest Time!

Need an activity to keep students occupied early in the year? Let their creativity shine with two design contests!

• Create the 2025-2026 Theme logo

  • Theme logos will be used for state conference programs and shirts as well as promotional materials through the year.

• Create a design for a new State Trading Pin

  • We sold out of our blue glitter horse pins this summer and the word on the street is the kids are ready to see something new.

  • Our winning design will be available for purchase at this year’s state conference and leadership development camp, just in time for trading at nationals!

• Prizes will include swag featuring their designs and $$$!

Please email all submissions to Sheena Searcy by September 8th.

Wishing each of you the best year ever!