Court Opinion

ID: 9662073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:58:56.895312+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:29.920135
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
concurring.
I must concur with the result achieved by the majority opinion because such a result is compelled by any careful reading of the statutes. However, I wish to express my views separately.
The General Assembly enacted the lengthy and detailed Kentucky Revised Statutes known as the “Kentucky Education Reform Act” and created some totally new responsibilities, new units of authority and new lines of accountability in the state school system. KRS 158.6451; KRS 160.290; KRS 160.345. KERA also continued and expanded many of the statutes already in existence.
When the dimensions of the changes required by KERA are more widely understood, there may be additional tensions in the system as a result. The only proper role for the court is to interpret the statutes as written by the legislature. It should also be understood that the proper role of the General Assembly is to provide any prudent changes which it believes necessary.
In resolving differences between the councils and the local school boards we must understand the nature of each entity under the KERA system. The councils relate to public education through a day-by-day direction of individual schools. The local school board is still a vital element in the system by providing the unity of a learning process through board guidelines for the administration of the entire district. The responsibility of the local council is to set school policy consistent with district policy. KRS 160.345. The council and the board are separate entities. The citizens and voters as a whole elect board members to represent the entire community. The council members are chosen by schoolrbased parents, teachers and the principal. Elected school board’s actions are held accountable to the majority of the entire district. Council activities are accountable to the individual school-site community.
This lawsuit was filed seeking a declaration of rights between differing educational units and the interpretation of such interests. The majority opinion correctly applies the law as it was written by the General Assembly. Those who genuinely believe that KERA is defective, either in whole or in part, should take their concerns to the General Assembly which has a hearing process through both its regular and interim committee system open to all citizens of the Commonwealth.
Our system of public education may not be perfect because every human institution could stand improvement. Certainly adjustment is always possible and there should be continuing attention to the details of education. Change alone is not enough; improvement must be the result. Improvement of the public educational system for the benefit of the students is a legitimate concern of all parents, classroom teachers and other educators as well as the taxpayers as a whole. There is a common constitutional goal of an efficient system of public education which unites all Kentuckians both friend and foe of the current system. Cooperation and tolerance of all views should be encouraged in order to reach the goal.