Kentucky Students Release New Book Explaining Why They’re Suing the State Over Public Education

The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) has released Why Kentucky Students Are Suing the State: Classrooms, Courts, and the Constitution, a new book authored by the organizational plaintiff behind a historic lawsuit challenging the Commonwealth’s failure to provide an adequate and equitable system of public education.

The book’s release coincides with the one-year anniversary of Kentucky Student Voice Team v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, a lawsuit filed by KSVT and 13 public school students from across the state. The case argues that Kentucky has fallen out of compliance with its constitutional obligation to provide all students with a quality education, as defined by the Kentucky Supreme Court in the landmark 1989 Rose v. Council for Better Education decision.

“The story of this lawsuit can’t be told in a single press conference or legal filing,” said Luisa Sanchez, a Boyle County High School student and one of the student plaintiffs. “It spans decades of policy decisions and generations of Kentucky students. This book is our way of telling the whole story and inviting the public into it with us.”

During a virtual media event announcing the book, KSVT students described how years of student-led research, statewide public forums, and community testimony led them to conclude that Kentucky’s public education system is no longer meeting constitutional standards, particularly for students in under-resourced districts.

“We wrote this book because we kept hearing the same questions everywhere we went,” said Grace Wilson, a student at STEAM Academy in Lexington. “What was the Rose decision? What was the Kentucky Education Reform Act? And what does our lawsuit have to do with any of it? This book is our answer.”

The publication traces Kentucky’s education reform legacy following Rose, outlines the students’ legal claims in accessible language, and documents how issues such as funding inequities, access to arts and mental health supports, and uneven educational opportunities continue to affect students across the Commonwealth.

Over the past year, KSVT’s student litigation team has also hosted public hearings across Kentucky, calling educators, school staff, and community leaders to testify about both the challenges facing public schools and the solutions already working in local communities.

“The problems raised in our lawsuit aren’t abstract,” said Aubrey Nies, a senior at Daviess County High School. “We’ve seen firsthand that many solutions already exist. This book shows what’s possible when students are trusted to help shape the future of public education.”

For younger students involved in the effort, the book represents not just a record of past actions, but a statement about what comes next.

“The decisions being made right now will shape the rest of my education,” said Laveenya Siddon, a sophomore at Owensboro High School. “This book is about making sure students are part of those decisions and that Kentucky lives up to the promise it made to us in its Constitution.”

Why Kentucky Students Are Suing the State: Classrooms, Courts, and the Constitution is available through Amazon in paperback and hardcover editions, and as a digital download on our website. The Kentucky Student Voice Team will continue hosting public hearings and community events throughout 2026 as part of its ongoing “Rose Revival” campaign.

For updates and opportunities to hear directly from student leaders, follow the team on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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About the Kentucky Student Voice Team

The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) is an independent, statewide 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2012 by Kentucky high school students. As a youth-led, intergenerationally-sustained collective, KSVT is on a mission to co-create more just and democratic public schools through student-led education research, policy advocacy, and storytelling. Learn more at ksvt.org.