The Kentucky board that licenses and regulates optometrists met Friday amid growing controversy about waivers it granted some candidates in recent years who hadn’t met all requirements for licensure.
But the Board of Optometric Examiners made no public mention of the matter. Rather, it met in closed session for about 30 minutes to discuss “proposed litigation regarding board waivers,” some of which were granted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It then adjourned without taking any action and Dr. Karoline Munson, the board vice-president, declined to answer questions.
“I don’t have any comment,” said Munson, a Frankfort optometrist who ran Friday’s meeting after the abrupt resignation of former president Dr. Joe Ellis, of Benton. “But have a Merry Christmas.”
Outside groups are urging the board to resolve questions about the situation to assure that public safety is protected and that eye care providers are duly licensed and qualified.
On Thursday, the Kentucky Optometric Association released a statement calling on the board to “move quickly” to establish a “comprehensive corrective plan.”
Also, Thursday, the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, which represents ophthalmologists, released a statement urging board action.
“We hope for transparency and strong patient safety protections for everyone across the commonwealth,” it said.
Optometrists are eye care providers with a four-year doctorate of optometry degree. Ophthalmologists are medical doctors with an additional residency in eye care and surgery.
Ellis resigned on Wednesday, a day before the Kentucky Lantern reported that the board in recent years had relaxed licensing standards for 21 optometry graduates between 2020 and 2023, exempting them from parts of a national standardized exam required for licensure. Among the candidates who received an optometrist’s license without passing “one or more” parts of the exam was his daughter, Hannah Ellis, according to a May 2025 letter to the state board from the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, or NBEO.
“NBEO is trying to understand how this could have happened,” the letter said.
The Kentucky board has not replied to the letter.
The national board on Friday issued a statement expressing concern that the state board had never replied to its letter about the 21 optometrists’ licenses.
“NBEO continues to be very concerned about the serious weakening of public protection in Kentucky and irregularities in the (state board’s) regulation and licensing of Kentucky optometrists,” it said.
It also criticized the lack of any public response from the board thus far.
“At its public meeting today, the Kentucky board failed to identify any corrective actions that it plans to take or even to include this issue in the public portions of its meeting,” the statement said.
Friday’s meeting comes as the board continued to grapple with how to respond to an Oct. 1 state attorney general’s opinion that found it had circumvented state law in waiving requirements for licensure.
While the board has the power to change licensure standards, it must do so through enacting new state regulations rather than by adopting changes at board meetings, the opinion said.
On Oct. 10, the board held a special meeting to begin formulating a response to the opinion and how to correct any problems it identified, with Ellis, then president, saying he hoped to have a response as soon as possible.
But Friday, the board made no mention of that and Munson, the vice-president, declined to answer questions about when a response might be forthcoming.
The attorney general identified two instances in which the board improperly waived requirements for passing part of a three-part national exam for licensure, citing restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But an investigation by the Kentucky Lantern found the board acted on at least six occasions to waive part of the exam between 2020 and 2023, at least one after the pandemic state of emergency had ended.
While most dealt with waiving Part 3, an in-person test of a candidate’s clinical skills, one appeared to involve waiving Part 1 of the national exam, a written test on scientific and medical knowledge–one the board has acknowledged some optometry graduates in Kentucky had trouble passing.
Earlier this year, the board enacted new regulations that allow candidates to take an easier Canadian version of Part 1 of the exam, making Kentucky the only state to do so.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Deborah Yetter is an independent journalist who previously worked for 38 years for The Courier Journal, where she focused on child welfare and health and human services. She lives in Louisville and has a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville.
