Kentucky

AMENDMENT LANGUAGE

State Constitutional Provision

Ky. Const. § 189: "NO portion of any fund . . . shall be appropriated to, or used by, or in aid of, any church, sectarian or denominational school."

RELEVANT CASES

State Courts

Neal v. Fiscal Court, Jefferson County, 986 S.W.2d 907 (Ky. 1999) (Kentucky Supreme Court held that the county fiscal court's plan that allocated funds for the transportation of non-public elementary school students, in which funds were paid to the transportation system administered by the board of education, and no funds were paid directly to individual schools, did not violate the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of sectarian schools).

Fiscal Court of Jefferson County v. Brady, 885 S.W.2d 681 (Ky. 1994) (Kentucky Supreme Court held that the county fiscal court's direct payment of county tax revenues to private schools for school transportation subsidies violated the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of sectarian schools).

Fannin v. Williams, 655 S.W.2d 480 (Ky. 1983) (Kentucky Supreme Court held that a Kentucky statute that provided for state-supplied textbooks for children in non-public schools violated the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of sectarian schools, because it provided aid to private education).

Rawlings v. Butler, 290 S.W.2d 801 (Ky. 1956) (Kentucky Supreme Court held (1) that a county school board's rental of school buildings from a church, where the church did not attempt to influence or control the schools, did not violate the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of churches and sectarian schools; and (2) that county fiscal courts may contribute tax funds to subsidize the transportation of non-public school students without violating the Kentucky constitution, but may not use tax funds raised for public school purposes for the transportation of non-public school students).

Sherrard v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., 171 S.W.2d 963 (Ky. App. 1942) (Kentucky appellate court held that the portion of a Kentucky statute requiring that students attending private school be given the same transportation rights as students of public schools violated the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of sectarian schools).

Williams v. Bd. of Trustees of Stanton Common School Dist., 191 S.W. 507 (Ky. App. 1917) (Kentucky appellate court held that an arrangement between the county board of education and a sectarian college, under which the college was paid tuition fees and building maintenance fees for the education of county high school students out of public school funds, violated the Kentucky constitutional provision prohibiting public funding of sectarian schools).

Commonwealth v. Board of Education of Methodist Episcopal Church, 179 S.W. 596 (Ky. 1915).

Hackett v. Brooksville Graded School District, 87 S.W. 792 (Ky. 1905).

REPEAL EFFORTS

See the Heritage Foundation website for a list of state contacts.