Louisville, Kentucky– The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a measure providing public funding for charter schools is unconstitutional, affirming that state funds are “intended for public schools and nothing else.”
The 2022 measure was enacted by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature despite a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. It was hit down The following year by a lower court.
The state Supreme Court ruled that “the Constitution as currently drafted clearly does not permit public education funds to be directed outside the common public school system,” Justice Michelle M. Keller in unanimous opinion.
In 2024, Voters in Kentucky refused A ballot measure that would have allowed state lawmakers to allocate general tax dollars to support students attending private or charter schools.
It was another setback for charter school supporters, who have tried for years to gain a foothold in the state. They say the schools offer another option for parents looking for the best-suited education for their children. But opponents say such schools would divert needed funds from existing public schools and could choose which students they would accept.
Charter schools have been legal in Kentucky since 2017, but none have opened because there is no way to fund them.
In her opinion, Keller wrote, the court did not make a ruling on the effectiveness of charter schools.
“We make no predictions about the potential success of charter schools or their ability to improve the education of the commonwealth’s children, and we leave public policy evaluations to the commonwealth’s designated policymakers—the General Assembly,” she wrote.
But for more than a century, Keller said, Kentucky has treated education as a “constitutional mandate, challenged time and time again…”
“The authorization indicates that state education funds are intended for public schools and nothing else,” the judge wrote.