By Judy Clabes
NKyTribune editor
As the nation celebrates a pivotal ‘rule of law’ affirmation from the U.S. Supreme Court, the state of Kentucky can join in a similar ‘rule of law’ victory, thanks to the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling this week affirming that state funds “are for common schools and for nothing else.”
The decision was unanimous, and NKY’s own Justice Michele Keller wrote the opinion.
It supports the judgment of the Franklin Circuit Court and follows a Governor’s veto of a 2022 measure enacted by a Republican-dominated legislature overridden by that legislature, (the issue at hand) and a sweeping voter rejection (in all 120 counties) of a 2024 ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to allocate public tax dollars to support students attending private or charter schools, and by continued efforts by supporters of charter schools to access public funding.
“Writing for the Court, Justice Keller makes clear that Kentucky’s constitution is unique among the states, for good reason,” said Bridgett Blom, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee, the state’s prestigious public education advocacy group. “The framers of the constitution wanted to ensure that education was a top priority in Kentucky, that education was funded without diversion to other priorities, and that the system of common schools intended to serve each and every child.”
Keller’s opinion is a textbook example of adherence to the “rule of law” and a tutorial on constitutional government. She cited numerous previous cases, finding “strong and consistent” precedence. Citing a quote from Fannin v. Williams, she wrote, “We cannot sell the people of Kentucky a mule and call it a horse, even if we believe the public needs a mule.”
“Innovation is welcome,” she writes, “circumvention is not.”
“Kentucky’s constitution is unique in that it protects the state’s commitment to education,” said Blom. “While notably frustrating for those well-intended who look for innovations outside the efficient system. Its protections force us to focus on improving the system for all students — and to engaging the public in that improvement. Kentucky’s constitution is unique — one might argue forward-thinking, and I believe will serve Kentucky well…The Supreme Court’s ruling affirms Kentucky’s shared commitment to a public education system that uses taxpayer dollars and delivers on its promise of education moving Kentuckians and our state forward.”
Keller’s opinion starts with “Since 1891, Kentucky has treated education not as policy but as a constitutional mandate, challenged again and again and requiring fidelity. Uniquely and emphatically memorializing the constitutional protection of education funding, Kentuckians enshrined education as a fundamental right…The mandate implicates state education funds are for common schools and for nothing else.”
Keller did not criticize “policy judgments,” but referred to the constitutional mandate: “the affirmative duty to furnish an efficient common-school system anchored firmly with responsibility to protect education funding. These inter-related requirements distinguish Kentucky from its neighbors. With this constitutional yardstick — calibrated by precedent — the matter is measured.”
In her analysis, Keller provides an exhaustive and eloquent litany of constitutional imperatives, of the differences between private, charter, public and common schools, of access and availability, of regulations, management, oversight and accountability — and of the “uniquely Kentucky” constitutional commitment to public funding of common schools.
Read the full 25-page unanimous Supreme Court ruling here.