The Kentucky Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion Thursday that a 2022 law allowing public funds to go toward charter schools violates the state constitution.
“The Constitution as it stands is clear that it does not permit funneling public education funds outside the common public school system,” wrote Justice Michelle Keller in her opinion that was joined by all other justices.
The constitutional challenge concerns a 2022 bill passed by the Kentucky General Assembly that created a funding mechanism for charter schools.
The Council for Better Education, which represents a coalition of school districts, and the Kentucky Board of Education filed a lawsuit, arguing charter schools are fundamentally different from traditional public schools and the constitution prohibits funding outside of the system of “common schools.”
The law was struck down on that basis in 2023, but the ruling was appealed by the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, which argued that charter schools are still part of the public school system despite being run by independent boards.
Keller’s opinion sided with the original plaintiffs in ruling that the law violated three different sections of the constitution relating to common schools, but added that voters could change that if they wanted to.
“Section 184 of the Kentucky Constitution provides an avenue for funding charter schools should a majority of voters be convinced that charter schools are for the betterment of efficient, effective education for all Kentuckians,” Keller wrote.
As noted in the opinion, Kentucky voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment in 2024 that would have allowed public funding to go outside the system of common schools and go towards private education.
“By a sweeping state-wide rejection in all 120 counties, Kentucky voters steeled the constitutional backbone of educational funding as strictly reserved for the common-school system,” Keller wrote. “The result fortified that Sections 184 and 186 made clear the charter debate is a constitutional one, not merely legislative: education funding requires either classification inside the common school system or voter consent.”
In a separate concurring opinion, Chief Justice Debra Lambert also stated that “if our common and public educational system is going to be altered in the way directed by these statutes, that alteration must come in the form of a constitutional amendment” that is approved by voters.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman reacted to the ruling with a statement saying the decision “to limit educational choices marks a sad day for Kentucky’s children.”
“The General Assembly has repeatedly passed bold initiatives to help our kids succeed,” Coleman stated. “But once again, Kentucky is on the outside looking as families in 45 other states get the very real benefits of charter schools.”
Reaction from Kentucky officials and advocates
GOP House Speaker David Osborne of Prospect said in a statement that the courts had “once again” usurped the authority of the Republican-dominated legislature and said the ruling protects the system instead of allowing the legislature to serve Kentucky kids.
“The measure of success in education should not be whether we have preserved institutions and bureaucracies, but whether a child can read at grade level, graduate prepared, and pursue a meaningful future,” Osborne said. “This ruling hits hardest on low-income families in communities like Louisville, condemning children who already face significant barriers to remain in underperforming schools that quite simply fail to educate them.”
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools called the unanimous decision “the most poorly reasoned legal opinion in the 35 years of the charter school movement.” Meanwhile, the Kentucky Education Association —- the statewide labor union for public K-12 teachers —- said the ruling proves that both Kentucky voters and courts have put the issue to bed and that lawmakers should instead “focus on investing in our public schools.”
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who vetoed the legislation in 2022 before the legislature overrode him, celebrated the decision.
“Taxpayer dollars should stay with our already underfunded public schools, and now they will. This is a win for our kids and our future,” Beshear said in a statement.
*This story has been updated to include additional comments.
