Ky. School System Revamp Ordered : Ruling Finds Education Spending Gap Unconstitutional

The state Supreme Court ruled today that Kentucky’s school system is unconstitutional because of the spending gap between rich and poor districts, and it ordered the Legislature to produce a new setup.

The court, ruling 5 to 1 with a seventh justice partly concurring and partly dissenting, gave the Legislature until the end of its 1990 session to come up with a system to even out spending.

“We do not direct the General Assembly to raise taxes. It is their decision how best to achieve efficiency,” the court said.

However, the court said the Legislature--in what would be a major departure--must make local tax rates uniform.

A frequent criticism is that poor districts often make only token efforts to help themselves, with minimal tax rates and lax enforcement of collections.

The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit filed in 1985 by 66 “property-poor” districts. The suit alleged that the school finance system, which depends on property taxes, is not fair in a state where wealth varies widely, from the Appalachian coal fields in eastern Kentucky to the affluent Cincinnati suburbs.

A judge agreed in 1988 that the Legislature had failed to meet its obligation under the Kentucky Constitution to establish an equitable system of public, or common, schools in terms of either spending or quality.

The state Supreme Court largely upheld the judge’s finding, ruling “This obligation cannot be shifted to local counties and local school districts.”

Gov. Wallace Wilkinson lauded the ruling. “We have the opportunity to rebuild, to redefine education in Kentucky. And if we fail, we will have failed ourselves, our fellow Kentuckians and particularly our children,” he said.

Schools Supt. John Brock said today was “the happiest day of my professional life.”

“Today the court has propelled us from the 19th Century to the 21st,” he said.