Rose Revival Campaign
The legacy of the 1989 Rose vs. Council for Better Education case that promised an adequate public education has wilted, and we're suing the state to revive it. Join us in supporting this landmark KSVT vs. Commonwealth of Kentucky lawsuit.
Background & History
Rose v. Council for Better Education: A Landmark Decision
In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Rose v. Council for Better Education that electrified the Commonwealth—and the nation—and led to sweeping educational reforms even beyond Kentucky. The Court determined that Kentucky’s entire education system was unconstitutional, and it required the Commonwealth to design an entirely new system that would provide all students with an “adequate” and “equitable” education. The Court specifically defined “adequacy” to mean an education system that provides “each and every child” with seven “capacities”.
The General Assembly responded by enacting the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), which codified (placed into law) the Court’s seven capacities. KERA charted a new path for education in Kentucky. These reforms made Kentucky a model for education reform throughout the country, and the landmark Rose decision birthed the nation-wide “adequacy” movement, with at least eight other state supreme courts citing Rose and its definition of an adequate education as the major precedent for their own rulings on students’ educational rights.
It was a promise to every Kentucky student that they will learn what they need to thrive in a local and global community. Despite earlier progress made in the first decade after Rose and KERA, Kentucky’s schools today are severely under-resourced and not effectively implementing the Rose capacities.
Rose Today
Three decades have gone by since the landmark Rose v. Council for Better Education decision in 1989. The subsequent educational reform, backed by the vision of the Rose case, promised an adequate and equitable education for every student in Kentucky.
However, data collected over the past 30 years suggests that while there have been strides forward, gaps still exist, necessitating a revisit of the Rose mandate. Here's why:
Funding Disparities
Funding for education in Kentucky has seen significant disparities over the years. While KERA sought to equalize funding, recent data suggests that per-pupil spending in the state's poorest districts still lags behind the more affluent ones at levels equal to when Rose was decided. According to this research, over the past 15 years, funding for education has become increasingly inadequate with local contributions to SEEK funding overtaking State contributions.
Eroding Civic Engagement
A major cornerstone of the Rose capacities was to ensure students possess "sufficient understanding of governmental processes" and are equipped to engage civically. However, Kentucky is one of eleven states that does not require at least a semester of civic courses in high school. The lack of comprehensive civic standards has hindered students in Kentucky. A report from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that students in Kentucky engage in civic activities at a drastically lower rate than the national average.
Widening Educational Inequities
Despite reforms, achievement gaps persist. Data shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Kentucky consistently underperform their more affluent counterparts. Graduation rates, college readiness scores, and other metrics all indicate disparities based on socioeconomic status, race, and geography, underscoring the need for a renewed focus on equity as championed by Rose.
In light of this data, it becomes evident that while Kentucky has made significant strides since the 1989 Rose decision, the vision of an adequate and equitable education for all students is still an unfulfilled promise. Revisiting and reviving the spirit and specifics of the Rose mandate now is not just timely but crucial to ensure every student in the state gets the education they rightfully deserve.
Continuing the Fight
The Rose Revival Campaign
Fast forward a little. Over 30 years later, the Kentucky Student Voice Team is leading a campaign dubbed Rose Revival that is inspired by the landmark state supreme court decision, Rose v. Council for Better Education (1989). After nearly two year's worth of engagement and community forums across the Commonwealth, we know that the legacy of Rose has wilted, and that students will be at the center of the next solution.
We believe urgent legal action is needed to address systemic deficiencies in Kentucky’s education system, which is why in January 2025 we filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Kentucky, asserting that the state has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide all students with an adequate and equitable public education.
KSVT Vs. the commonwealth
On January 14, 2025, KSVT and students filed a legal complaint in the Franklin County Circuit Court alleging the Kentucky government has failed to meet their constitutional obligation as described in Rose to provide an adequate education for all students.
Public Hearing Series
Through our upcoming public hearings, students will examine education expert “witnesses” about the allegations surfaced in our legal complaint. The hearings will generate policy solutions and spur an affirmative vision for students’ constitutional right to an adequate and equitable education resulting from our lawsuit.
State of Schools Report
Surfacing stories and statistics, we will be releasing a report in coming weeks on the State of Civic Education in Kentucky using data collected from over 2,500 responses to the KSVT State of Schools survey and hours of audio recordings from Rose Revival community forums.
Breaking down the complaint
The Kentucky Student Voice Team, alongside 13 individual student plaintiffs, filed the KSVT vs. The Commonwealth of Kentucky lawsuit because we are both deeply aware that Kentucky students are not receiving an adequate or equitable education, which is our constitutional right. We are particularly concerned that our education system is not effectively preparing students for capable citizenship as adults.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that our constitutional and statutory rights are being violated and to require that the Commonwealth fix our public school system to make it constitutional.
We are also asking the court to declare that an adequate and equitable education requires inclusion of parents, teachers and students in educational decision-making so that all important Kentucky stakeholders have an ongoing voice in improving their schools.
Where We’ve Been
Community Engagement
Through a vigorous, ground-up public engagement campaign, we affirmed that the vision of Rose still resonates with Kentuckians, even decades later. Kentuckians believe that we can overcome the erosion of democratic norms and values and nurture more inclusive, successful, and vibrant communities. Summarized memos from each event are linked below.
Louisville Community Forum
