In a landmark 1989 Kentucky Supreme Court decision, justices found the state’s public school system was “constitutionally deficient” and systematically failed students.
The Rose v. Council for Better Education Inc. decision led to the Kentucky Education Reform Act that radically altered the way education funding was dispersed across the state, put in place new curriculum standards and increased accountability.
The state has slid backwards since those reforms, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by students from across the state and the nonprofit Kentucky Student Voice Team.
Standing on the steps to the Franklin County courthouse, the students announced, “We are here, the children of the Rose generation, to say that the legacy of Rose has wilted.”
Pointing to lack-luster test scores and school funding that hasn’t kept up with inflation, the students said the state has failed to fulfill its mandate from the state Supreme Court to provide an adequate education.
“I want to emphasize that this is way more than just funding,” said Luisa Sanchez, one of the named plaintiffs of the lawsuit and a student at Boyle County High School. “It is about students having the opportunity to learn about civics education, about having career development opportunities, about teachers to have a better salary, about our schools to be safe and our students to be supported with mental health resources.”
The lawsuit names the leaders of the Republican-controlled state legislature and the Kentucky Board of Education as defendants. It asks for the court to make a declaratory judgement as they did in the 1989 case. It would leave the reforms up to the state legislature if the courts declare the public school system unconstitutional.
“The goal of this case that we filed today is to reaffirm the promise of the Rose decision,” said Kentucky constitutional lawyer Michael Abate, who also represents Louisville Public Media in First Amendment cases. “We are simply asking our court to do today what it did 35 years ago, which is to stand up for the students of the commonwealth and to force the government to provide them an adequate and efficient education.”
The lawsuit alleges that, since the 1990s, the state’s base funding for education has fallen by about 25% when adjusted for inflation, and the state has increasingly shared a smaller percentage of the total cost of education. It also points to a slew of poor test results, including a survey commissioned by Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams that found nearly two-thirds of Kentucky voters “appear to have a minimum knowledge of government.”
The state has also seen a renewed gap in per capita spending between property-rich and poor districts that “now exceeds the disparities the Kentucky Supreme Court held to be unconstitutional,” the lawsuit alleges.
Republican lawmakers have often touted “record” education spending, pointing to the nominal dollar amounts. GOP House Speaker David Osborne said on KET last week — in response to a statement from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear that the legislature needed to stop its attacks on public education — that the legislature needed to focus on accountability and had fulfilled its obligations to fund school systems.
“By every metric, even adjusted for inflation — regardless of what so-called economists continue to say, which are not economists — we continue to fund education at record levels,” Osborne said. “Even when presented with the opportunity to say that we needed to double down on education, the only intentional proposal that we ever get is more money. And I will tell you that we will not continue to shower more money on failing systems.”
Attorney Michael Rebell, with the Center for Educational Equity at Columbia University, said the Kentucky Supreme Court case from decades ago has ripple effects across the country. Its definition of an “adequate” education, he said, inspired a lawsuit he won in New York. Rebell said these suits often lead to more spending on education, but Kentucky courts have already laid out how that money is meant to be directed to improve outcomes in the form of seven defined “capacities.”
“The essence of those capacities are that kids learn how to be good citizens,” Rebell said.
Rebell said he believes the Student Voice Team lawsuit could lead to another national wave of litigation, urging state governments to uphold constitutional requirements to provide an adequate education.
Sanchez said she didn’t know about the state’s education reform act before she became involved with the Kentucky Student Voice Team. As a high school junior, she said she knows she’s unlikely to benefit from the outcome of the legislation, but she hopes future students feel safer in the classroom and learn more about civic engagement and democracy.
“Because really, when it comes down to it, in order to be an active participant in democracy, you need to be educated,” Sanchez said.
The Kentucky Student Voice Team plans to conduct a year-long series of public hearings with stakeholders across the state, hoping they will inform future improvements to Kentucky’s schools.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.