For Immediate Release: Contact: Jim Waters
Thursday, February 24, 2022 (270) 320-14376
Kentucky Supreme Court fast-tracks school choice lawsuit
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – The Kentucky Supreme Court put a lawsuit against omnibus school choice legislation passed last year by the General Assembly on a fast track today by granting a motion to transfer the case to the state’s highest court.
House Bill 563 creates education opportunity accounts funded by tax credits to provide financial assistance to students wishing to attend nonpublic schools in counties with more than 90,000 residents who come from homes with incomes at or below 175% of the federal poverty level.
After Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillips Shepherd ruled in October that the legislation is unconstitutional, Institute for Justice attorneys filed a motion to have the case bypass the state Court of Appeals and sent directly to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
“We’re optimistic that when this legal process is concluded, the Supreme Court will adhere to the will of the people’s representatives and open the door to a better education and brighter future for thousands of Kentucky students,” Bluegrass institute president and CEO Jim Waters said.
The lawsuit was filed by the Council for Better Education, a group comprised of administrators from most of Kentucky’s public school districts, which solicited local districts in order to fund the legal action.
HB 563, which the General Assembly passed by overriding Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto, also offers qualifying public, private and homeschool students in all 120 Kentucky counties access to EOAs to provide supplemental educational services and supplies, such as tutoring and textbooks.
It also offers parents statewide the opportunity to enroll their child in a public school in a district different than the one where they reside with state SEEK dollars to follow children who transfer.
For more information, please contact Jim Waters at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com, 859.444.5630 ext. 102 (office) or 270.320.4376 (cell).
