A controversial school choice program blocked for more than a year is unconstitutional, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Thursday's decision ends a lengthy legislative and legal process to make education opportunity accounts — a rebranded version of scholarship tax credits — a reality in Kentucky.

Under the challenged law, those who donate to scholarship-granting organizations would have received hefty tax credits from the state. The organizations would use donations to help low- and middle-income families pay for education expenses, most notably private school tuition in the largest counties.

Voters must sign off on any state funds that go to private schools. No such vote occurred involving education opportunity accounts.

Such legislation saw several false starts in front of state lawmakers before passing through on a tight vote in the spring 2021. It was quickly met with a legal challenge from a cohort of school districts called the Council for Better Education, who fought and won a 1989 case that led to major education reform.

In October 2021, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled the school choice program was unconstitutional and blocked it from going into effect.