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LEXINGTON, KY — The Bluegrass Institute today expressed serious concern over the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision that House Bill 9, the Commonwealth's charter school law, violates the Kentucky Constitution.
Today's opinion endangers funds the General Assembly regularly appropriates for education delivered outside Kentucky’s system of “common schools.” The ruling places Kentucky among a disadvantaged minority of states when it comes to offering families a variety of education options.
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Gus LaFontaine, leader of LaFontaine Preparatory School (LPS) and appellant in the case decided today, made the following statement:
We’re disappointed that Kentucky children cannot participate in an educational opportunity that is already operating in 46 states. We will continue to offer opportunities to the many families who seek out the educational options that best fit their needs.
Bluegrass Institute CEO Caleb O. Brown made the following statement:
For well over a century, the General Assembly has routinely appropriated General Fund dollars to educational programs that plainly do not satisfy the court's definition of a "common school." These include the Kentucky Schools for the Blind and Deaf, the Governor's Scholars Program, the Governor's School for the Arts, the Governor's School for Entrepreneurs, the Craft and Gatton Academies, Bluegrass and Appalachian Youth Challenge Academies, and Kentucky Adult Learner Programs.
These programs receive millions in General Fund appropriations. Under the court's reasoning, every one of these appropriations is constitutionally suspect. The court does not explain how its ruling leaves these beloved programs intact, nor can it.
The Bluegrass Institute’s amicus brief foreshadowed how today’s ruling answers the wrong question. The court addressed whether charter schools qualify as "common schools" before asking the more fundamental threshold question: Where does the money actually come from?
The Kentucky Constitution's Section 184 restricts only two categories of funds from being spent on anything other than common schools: (1) the School Fund and its income, and (2) sums specifically raised by taxation for the purpose of common school education. Critically, Section 184 places no restriction whatsoever on General Fund appropriations.
The Court's opinion glosses over this distinction entirely.
As argued in the Bluegrass Institute's amicus brief, the proper first question is whether HB 9 directs constitutionally restricted funds to charter schools — not whether charter schools fit a particular label. If General Fund dollars fund charter schools, the constitutional analysis ends there, in favor of the law's validity. Nothing in the record established that restricted funds, rather than General Fund appropriations, would flow to charter schools. The Court's failure to grapple with this issue raises a serious analytical gap.
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The Bluegrass Institute works with Kentuckians, grassroots organizations, and business owners to advance freedom and prosperity by promoting individual liberty, limited government, and free markets.
