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State Aid for Private Tuition Could Be Jeopardized By Suit

Posted on: Monday, 26 June 2006, 03:00 CDT

By Lee Mueller, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Jun. 26--PIKEVILLE -- Private schools might be in jeopardy of losing millions of state dollars that go to their students, because of a lawsuit that challenges spending $10 million on a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands, critics say.

When the Williamsburg school expelled a student this spring because he is gay, there was a firestorm over whether the school should still be able to use public funds to construct a pharmacy school at the private, Baptist-affiliated college.

A lawsuit was filed by the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, challenging the constitutionality of giving public money to a school that discriminates.

However, few people have raised questions about a scholarship and grant program, created by the Kentucky legislature 34 years ago, that "is available only to private schools," said former state Sen. Benny Ray Bailey, D-Hindman.

Should the courts rule against the Cumberlands, the decision could be found to apply to all of Kentucky higher education, crippling funding for some of the state's private colleges, some legislators and education leaders fear.

Senate President David Williams, who is pushing for the pharmacy school in his district, and state Rep. Kathy Stein, a Democrat, agree that an adverse ruling could endanger other state funding for private schools.

"He raises an excellent point," Stein said of Bailey. "I think it was brought to our attention because of David Williams' audacity in putting this (the $10 million) in the budget and daring people to challenge it."

Williams, she said, "is the definition of arrogance. By doing this in the way he did, he almost demanded that the judiciary look at the situation."

Williams, a Burkesville Republican, said the use of public funds for construction of the pharmacy school is constitutional.

"The bottom line is, the Fairness Alliance people are interested in creating a protected class based upon sexual preference or sexual orientation," Williams said. "That's all they're interested in. They wouldn't care if they closed every school in the state down to get their way on this."

Fairness Alliance spokeswoman Christina Gilgor of Lexington said: "Our issue is the singling out of gay students. We would like the Constitution to be followed across the board -- and if that affects the way private schools are funded, it does."

Kentucky has given millions of dollars -- $39.5 million last year -- in public revenues as scholarships and grants to students attending private, non-profit colleges.

Last year, $20.9 million in public money was given to students attending private colleges through the Kentucky Tuition Grant program. Two other programs are available for students at both public and private colleges -- the College Access Program, for financially needy undergraduates, and the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarships, available to all high school students based on merit.

Bridging the gap

The KTG program was established so lower-income students could afford to attend private colleges, which generally are more expensive than public universities. Bailey, who is on the medical school board at Pikeville College, helped push through legislation nine years ago to help Kentucky residents bridge the gap between tuition at Pikeville medical school and the cost at the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville medical schools.

At that time, Pikeville charged medical students $22,000 a year, while UK and U of L's tuition was $8,400, said Steven Payson, an associate dean at Pikeville. The gap is closing, said Payson, who noted that this year's tuition at Pikeville is $29,250. UK and U of L charge about $20,000.

Terry Spears, vice president of Pikeville College, said school officials are watching the Cumberlands case. "But we're pretty confident that these programs will pass legal muster and do, in fact, have a very valid public benefit," he said.

At Alice Lloyd College, President Joe Alan Stepp said he also is paying attention.

The historic school at Pippa Passes "has a longstanding policy that it does not accept direct state or federal tax dollars," Stepp said. "But 'direct' is the key word."

Indirectly, through its students, Alice Lloyd benefited from $1.5 million in state grants and scholarships last year.

"A $1.5 million loss would hurt anybody," Stepp said. "I'm keeping up with it and hope for the best for all concerned ... but have I lost any sleep over it? No."

University of the Cumberlands students alone received almost $3 million in public money for grants and scholarships last year.

'A good deal for the state'

Critics point out that the money that goes to students winds up in schools' coffers as tuition. Former state Rep. Roger Noe, D-Cumberland, who was chairman of the House education committee in the 1980s, said he and others opposed the Kentucky Tuition Grant program.

"The argument they made was that the money went to students, but it was pass-through money," Noe said. "It seemed ludicrous to me, but I was in the minority."

Both Bailey and Noe said that when they proposed eliminating the KTG program, they received a barrage of letters in opposition. "I think I got a letter from every person who ever graduated from Union College," Bailey said, referring to a Methodist school in Barbourville.

Gary Cox, executive director of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Institutions, said his members received $42 million last year. That amounts to less than 4 percent of the money the state spends on post-secondary education each year.

"It's really a good deal for the state," he said.

Cox said his member schools have more than 100,000 alumni in Kentucky who generate more than enough revenue to justify that financial assistance.

Other states also contribute funds to colleges and institutions with religious ties, he said, but the schools are not controlled by the churches, he said. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools will not accredit schools that are essentially funded by church groups, he said.

"There's a whole lot more to this than just a knee-jerk, 'This is unconstitutional,'" Cox said.

Noe, a former community-college president and dean, disagrees with that assessment.

"What they argue is, this allows the brightest and best to attend their schools," he said. "They can say this is just a supplement."

'You can't do that!'

Bailey says Cumberland doesn't need the $10 million in coal-tax money. He said the Pikeville medical school makes money and so would the pharmacy school.

"There's all kinds of money they could borrow," Bailey said. "And I think that's where the line was crossed. We get it mixed up with the gay issue. The Republicans like to holler: 'These people are defending gays.' No, they're not. They're defending the Constitution."

If the University of the Cumberlands loses the lawsuit, "someone like Kathy Stein could file suit to stop funding for Pikeville medical students, and then they'll have to stop the whole KTG program," Bailey said.

He recalled the time he tried to stop it. "Everybody said, 'Oh Lord, you can't do that!' Because private colleges, all across the state, that's how they live, is off tax money."

Noe says he never asked any private-college officials about the income levels of students who were receiving the public grants and scholarships.

"I should have," he said, chuckling. "But I never understood the influence these schools have in the General Assembly. And in the General Assembly, the Constitution sometimes doesn't matter that much."

Reach Lee Mueller at (606) 789-4800 or e-mail at lmueller1@herald-leader.com [mailto:lmueller1@herald-leader.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

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