entitled to attend these common schools, and to receive tuition in all the branches [of learning] prescribed by the state board of education to be taught therein, free of expenses ..." 33 S.W. at 94. This decision, very close in time to the adoption of the present Constitution, recognized a prohibition against any practice which "impairs the equal benefit of the common-school system" to all students. Id. at 95. In City of Louisville v. Commonwealth, 134 Ky. 488, 121 S.W. 411 (1909), the Court held: "In this state the subject of public education has always been regarded and treated as a matter of state concern. In the last Constitution, as well as in the one preceding it, the most explicit care was evinced to promote public education as a duty of the state.... In obedience to that requirement, the General Assembly has provided a system of public schools.... All [schools throughout the state] have the one main essential--that they are free schools, open to all the children of proper school age residing in the locality, and affording equal opportunity for all to acquire the learning taught in the various common school branches...." 121 S.W. at 412 (emphasis added). The decision, specifically relying on Section 183, postulated: public education in the common schools is a duty of the state; that the General Assembly attempted to obey the mandate (as it certainly has attempted to do now); and although there are certain different provisions for different localities, all common schools must be free, open to all students, and provide equal opportunities for all students to acquire the same education. In other words, although by accident of birth and residence, a student lives in a poor, financially deprived area, he or she is still entitled to the same educational opportunities that those children in the wealthier districts obtain. What principle could be more fair, more just, and more importantly, what would be more consistent with the purpose of Section 183 and the common school system it spawned? We further emphasized the mandate of Section 183 in Board of Education of Boyle County v. McChesney, 235 Ky. 692, 32 S.W.2d 26 (1930). Affirming the General Assembly's constitutional duty to provide for an efficient system, the Court idealistically observed the citizens' burden. "Onerous taxes are levied annually and paid willingly by the people for this essential governmental service." 32 S.W.2d at 28. In the case of Commonwealth ex rel. Baxter v. Burnett, 237 Ky. 473, 35 S.W.2d 857 (1931), we again emphasized the constitutional mandate of Section 183, and the great importance of public education. In addition, the element of "efficiency" was highlighted. The Court also acknowledged and approved strong, centralized control (by the state) of the system of common schools. "In the progress towards the highest degree of efficiency the legislature more and more has centralized the control of schools and sought uniformity and equality of advantage for the school children of the state as a whole." 35 S.W.2d at 859. Describing the growing centralization as "progress," we restated the overall goals of the system as "uniformity and equality" for the school children of the state "as a whole." What could be clearer? Since the Constitution acknowledges the importance of education to this Commonwealth and since the establishment and maintenance of a system of common schools is a mandated duty of the General Assembly, it is part and parcel of this overall goal that the system have the twin attributes of uniformity and equality. In Wooley v. Spalding, Ky., 293 S.W.2d 563 (1956), a suit was filed by citizens and taxpayers to prohibit the defendant superintendent of Marion County schools from expending funds in alleged illegal ways, to prohibit sectarian instruction from being given in public schools and to seek the reopening and proper operation of a high