## Facts

- Kentucky school districts and education officials, led by the Council for Better Education, filed a declaratory judgment action challenging the constitutionality of Kentucky’s statewide system for financing and operating public schools.
- Plaintiffs alleged the system violated Ky. Const. § 183, which requires the General Assembly to “provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the State,” and also raised federal constitutional claims.
- The trial court concluded the school finance and governance structure was not “efficient” and declared the entire system of common schools unconstitutional under the Kentucky Constitution.
- Legislative leaders appealed, defending the constitutionality of the existing system.
- The record included evidence of major disparities among districts in per-pupil resources, facilities, educational offerings, and outcomes, tied largely to differences in local property wealth and districts’ ability to raise revenue.

## Issues

1. Whether the challenge to Kentucky’s statewide common-school system presented a justiciable controversy or an impermissible intrusion into legislative authority.
2. Whether Ky. Const. § 183 creates an enforceable right to education and, if so, whether education is a fundamental right under the Kentucky Constitution.
3. What “efficient system of common schools” means under § 183 and whether Kentucky’s system satisfied that standard.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the trial court’s system-wide constitutional ruling, holding Kentucky’s entire common-school system was not “efficient” and was constitutionally deficient under § 183.
- The court held the General Assembly had not met its constitutional duty to provide an efficient system of common schools throughout the state.
- The court treated education as a fundamental right under the Kentucky Constitution, intended to secure a proper and adequate education for each child.
- The court interpreted “efficient” to require adequacy and substantial equality of educational opportunity on a statewide basis, not merely a collection of disparate local systems.
- The court declared the system unconstitutional but left to the General Assembly the task of designing and implementing a constitutionally compliant system, emphasizing judicial enforcement of constitutional standards rather than judicial control of education policy details.

## Legal Principles

- Ky. Const. § 183 imposes a judicially enforceable duty on the General Assembly to maintain an “efficient” statewide system of common schools.
- Courts may adjudicate whether the state has met the constitutional education mandate; separation-of-powers concerns do not bar review when a constitutional standard is alleged to have been violated.
- An “efficient” system requires more than administrative operation; it requires statewide adequacy of educational provision and substantial equality of educational opportunity across districts.
- The constitutional standard includes ensuring that each child is educated to develop core competencies necessary for effective civic participation and economic and social functioning (commonly expressed through identified educational capacities).
- When a statewide education system is constitutionally deficient, the proper remedy is a declaration of unconstitutionality and articulation of governing standards, while leaving policy design and implementation choices to the legislature.

## Conclusion

The court held that Kentucky’s entire public common-school system failed the constitutional mandate of an “efficient” statewide education system because it produced inadequate and substantially unequal educational opportunities, and it required the General Assembly to restructure the system to meet constitutional standards while preserving legislative control over the specific policy solution.


Rose v. Council for Better Educ., Inc., 790 S.W.2d 186 (Ky. 1989)