In 1990, after the state Supreme Court ruled the public schools were failing, lawmakers in Kentucky passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act, a law that was supposed to guarantee each child in the state received a quality K-12 education. Among other things, the law mandated equitable school funding, enhanced accountability measures and removed politics from educational policy.
In January, however, a student-led group said it believes the state reneged on its promise.
The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) sued its home state, arguing it has not met its constitutional obligation to provide all students with an adequate and equitable public education.
“As a Black student and someone who’s had a pretty privileged education, I want to see all Kentucky students be able to have adequate resources and be able to be excited to go to school,” KSVT member Addison Lowry, a 17-year old junior at DuPont Union High School in Louisville, tells Word In Black.
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The lawsuit — modeled on one filed in 1989, which led to the 1990 Kentucky Supreme Court ruling — is the latest example of the courts being used to hold states accountable for failures in K-12 education. From California to New Jersey, stakeholders have filed suits alleging states have not lived up to the guarantee of a quality education for all.
From Textbooks to Janitors
In Williams v. California (2000), for example, a coalition of students and parents accused the state of failing to provide the basics for a quality education. Their complaints ranged from overcrowded classrooms to a lack of textbooks. In Latino Action Network v. State of New Jersey (2018), the parents and students argued the state segregated students by race and poverty.
Similar problems were at issue in a 1990 lawsuit brought by parents and students in Baltimore against the state of Maryland. Along with overcrowded classrooms and inadequate staffing, the plaintiffs alleged the state’s failures include lack of janitors for regular building maintenance as well as no air conditioning or heating.
A 2021 lawsuit against the state of Pennsylvania centered on school funding. Parents in Flint, Michigan, sued over a lack of special education services for children whose intellectual development was harmed by polluted drinking water. And in Nevada, a lawsuit stopped the state from enacting a program that would have diverted millions of taxpayer dollars to private-school vouchers.
[Decision makers] were not integrating our perspectives … when they were making policy decisions about what happens in the classroom.
Andrew Brennen, Kentucky Student VOice Team
In Kentucky, Andrew Brennen, a co-founder of KSVT and chair of the organization’s board of directors says he recognized the need for change back in 2012.
“At the time, we were a group of students spending 35 hours a week in the classroom,” he says. “It felt like education decision makers were not integrating our perspectives based on that experience when they were making policy decisions about what happens in the classroom.”
Back then, KSVT wanted policymakers to include the voices of K-12 students as guidance for districts and school policies; they wanted lawmakers to know first-hand where they felt their education was lacking. Their complaints ranged from lack of extracurricular programs to insufficient mental health support staff.
Lawsuits as a Tool
KSVT’s mission has since evolved to elevating students as partners in building a more just and democratic public school system in Kentucky. And they have some heavyweight partners on their side: the Louisville-based Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird law firm, as well as experts from Teachers College at Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
Brennen says the Kentucky Supreme Court’s 1989 ruling made it plain that the state needed to do more to prepare students for life after high school. Every Kentucky student, he says, “is entitled to sufficient oral and written communication skills” to help them function in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world.
The issues outlined in the KSVT lawsuit point to a need for systemic changes.
According to the 2023-24 Kentucky Summative Assessment, only 41% of eighth graders in the state are proficient or better in reading. KSVT’s lawsuit also argues that the state’s K-12 system absence of civics classes leaves students unprepared for college or the workforce.
At the same time, Kentucky is one of only 11 states in which students aren’t required to learn about voting, volunteering, jury service, or public service, according to the lawsuit. Without a basic civics education, students are less likely to understand how their local political systems work or make informed choices on election day.
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Then there’s the student mental health crisis.
The 2023 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that nearly one in five high school students had seriously considered suicide. Yet many Kentucky schools lack adequate mental health resources, with some having no counselors at all.
The 2023 Kentucky School Report Card highlights vast differences in student achievement, with some districts outperforming others by more than 70 percentage points. These disparities indicate systemic inequalities in funding, resources, and educational opportunities, leaving many students at a disadvantage.
As for Lowry, she only wants the basics for her fellow students: “I just want other Kentucky students to be able to have that opportunity to be excited to go to school, and be excited to learn about new things, or be excited about this new class.”
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