With new member, KY Supreme Court grants Louisville school board rehearing on law curbing its power
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
A state law limiting the power of Jefferson County’s elected school board will get a second look from the Kentucky Supreme Court, thanks to its newest member.
In a 4-3 order Thursday, the court granted the school board’s request for a rehearing and withdrew a ruling it issued in December that had upheld the 2022 law.
The court also split 4-3 in December in support of the law which is written in a way that could apply only to the Louisville school district.
A change in justices accounts for the court granting the rehearing.
Justice Pamela Goodwine, elected in November, replaced former Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter who was part of the narrow majority that upheld the law. Goodwine is part of the narrow majority that now wants to hear more arguments.
On Thursday, Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman, whose office is defending the law, said, “We are stunned by the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling to undo its own decision. We will redouble our efforts to defend the interests of Kentucky students and uphold the rule of law.”
In earlier rulings a Jefferson Circuit judge and the Kentucky Court of Appeals both found the law was unconstitutional. The lower court judges said the law violates Kentucky’s Constitution by singling out one school district for special legislation.
KY Supreme Court narrowly upholds law that singles out Jefferson County Public Schools
While the law does not mention Jefferson County by name, “the provisions plainly singled out counties with a certain type of governance that exists only in Jefferson County,” said the appeals court decision.
The Supreme Court disagreed, saying that the legislation is aimed at a class — county school districts with a consolidated local government — not a “particular individual, object, or locale” and that other districts could meet that definition in the future, even if it now applies only to Jefferson County.
The law’s limits on the Jefferson County school board were a priority for Republican lawmakers who are frequent critics of the Louisville schools and the Jefferson County Teachers Association.
Republican Senate President Robert Stivers praised the Supreme Court ruling in December, calling it “a shot across the bow to Kentucky’s largest school district, one which continues to fail its students, particularly low-income and minority students.”
Goodwine’s campaign last year received financial backing from the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association, which represent educators, as well as from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s political action committee.
Beshear had vetoed the law but was overridden by the legislature’s Republican supermajority.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case Aug. 6 in Lexington.
Last updated 4:55 p.m., Apr. 24, 2025
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