Judge won’t dismiss students’ lawsuit against Kentucky for inadequate education

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd on Thursday denied a request from Kentucky to dismiss a 2025 lawsuit filed by Kentucky students, including the Kentucky Student Voice Team, alleging they weren’t getting a quality education.

The lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court asserted the state has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide all students with an adequate and equitable public education.

The state is represented by Attorney General Russell Coleman. State House Speaker David W. Osborne, state Senate President Robert Stivers, state Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher and the Kentucky Board of Education are defendants in the lawsuit.

The three leaders wanted the lawsuit dismissed, arguing the students lack standing to bring the action and that the legislative defendants have legislative immunity from lawsuit, the ruling said.

The lawsuit draws from the 1989 Rose decision that spurred the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, a landmark initiative that propelled the state’s schools from the bottom of national rankings to models of success.

The students are seeking a return to the promise of the Rose decision and the state constitution to improve the commonwealth’s public school system — from what is discussed in the classroom, to deeper conversations about physical and emotional health and higher salaries for teachers.

The Rose decision held that students and others with a direct stake in the outcome of a constitutional challenge to the validity of Kentucky’s system of common schools have standing to sue under the Kentucky Constitution, Shepherd’s ruling said.

The judge said Rose further held that it is the sole responsibility of the legislature to provide for an efficient system of common schools.

Another court case has recognized a broad claim of legislative immunity under the Kentucky Constitution, but such immunity is not unlimited, the ruling said. Therefore, the students’ lawsuit can proceed.

“The issues raised in these motions are important,” the ruling said. “While the Court has denied the Defendants’ motions, it is mindful that this is the beginning and not the end of the constitutional issues that must be dealt with in this case.”

The ruling said issues related to the scope of the legislature’s constitutional duty are among the important questions.

“The issues before the Court are standing and legislative immunity, and on those issues, the Court is compelled to reject the arguments advanced by Defendants,” the ruling said.

“ This is a resounding victory for Kentucky students, but it also marks the first step in a long judicial process,” the Kentucky Student Voice Team said in a Thursday statement.

It’s unclear when the next court hearing will take place in the case.

This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 3:26 PM.