The Kentucky Supreme Court yesterday agreed with a lower court that the legislature's funding of a Baptist College, for the purpose of building a pharmacy school, violates the state constitution's ban on funding religious entities. The Lexington Herald Leader quotes from the ruling:
"If Kentucky needs to expand the opportunities for pharmacy school education within the commonwealth, the Kentucky General Assembly may most certainly address that pressing public need, but not by appropriating public funds to an educational institution that is religiously affiliated," Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson wrote for the majority, upholding a 2008 circuit court ruling that blocked the funding.
Without public aid, the University of the Cumberlands has abandoned plans to add a pharmacy school.
