school. The trial court denied the request, but our predecessor Court reversed and
granted the requested injunction. In language which brings together and reemphasizes earlier decisions, we said, "The fundamental mandate of the Constitution
and Statutes of Kentucky is that there shall be equality and that all public schools
shall be nonpartisan and nonsectarian. Uniformity does not require equal
classification but it does demand that there shall be a substantially uniform system
and equal school facilities without discrimination as between different sections of a
district or a county." Id. at 565 (references omitted).
The lack of uniformity and the unequal educational opportunity existing in the county
was said to constitute "a violation of both the spirit and intent of Section 183 of our
State Constitution." Id. That reasoning therein applies, a fortiori, to the entire state
system of common schools. Public schools must be efficient, equal and substantially
uniform.
As can be seen, this Court, since the adoption of the present Constitution, has, in
reflecting on Section 183, drawn several conclusions: 1) The General Assembly is
mandated, is duty bound, to create and maintain a system of common schools-throughout the state. 2) The expressed purpose of providing such service is vital and
critical to the well being of the state. 3) The system of common schools must be
efficient. 4) The system of common schools must be free. 5) The system of common
schools must provide equal educational opportunities for all students in the
Commonwealth. 6) The state must control and administer the system. 7) The system
must be, if not uniform, "substantially uniform," with respect to the state as a whole.
8) The system must be equal to and for all students.
Finally, a Federal Court has stated the financial burden entailed in meeting these
responsibilities in no way lessens the constitutional duty. Carroll v. Board of
Education of Jefferson County, 410 F.Supp. 234 (W.D.Ky.1976), aff'd 561 F.2d 1
(6th Cir.1977). "In short, once the citizens of Kentucky made the voluntary
commitment to educate the children of this state in public schools neither the
Kentucky General Assembly nor those individuals responsible for discharging the
duties imposed on them by the state constitution ... can abrogate those duties
merely because the monetary obligations becomes unexpectedly large or onerous."
Id. at 238.
The taxpayers of this state must pay for the system, no matter how large, even to
the point of being "unexpectedly large or even onerous."
Before proceeding, therefore, to a definition of "efficient" we must address a point
made by the appellants with respect to our authority to enter this fray and to "stick
our judicial noses" into what is argued to be strictly the General Assembly's business.
Appellants argue and cite several cases to support their position, that the General
Assembly has sole and exclusive authority to determine whether the system of
common schools is constitutionally "efficient" and that a Court may not substitute its
judgment for that of the General Assembly.
In Prowse v. Board of Education for Christian County, 134 Ky. 365, 120 S.W. 307
(1909), the constitutionality of an act requiring the fiscal court to enact a tax
previously set by the board of education for local school operation was upheld. We
said, in light of Section 183: "What system will be most efficient is for the judgment
of the General Assembly.... In a matter like this, resting within the discretion of the
General Assembly, the Court will not substitute its judgment for the judgment of the
General Assembly and it will not interfere with the action of the legislature, unless a
palpable effort to evade the mandate of the Constitution should appear." 120 S.W. at
308. [FN17]
[FN17. See also, Board of Education of Louisville v. Board of Education
of Jefferson County, Ky., 458 S.W.2d 6, 8 (1970) (determining
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