State Auditor Allison Ball says the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is violating the U.S. Constitution in the way it treats faith-based preschools.

Ball’s office conducted a special examination of the department as required by the Kentucky General Assembly.

In the more than 500-page report, the Auditor’s Office says the KDE, “…allows secular, but not religious, private programs to receive state funding, which violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”

Ball told Kentucky Today the KDE regulations essentially require religious preschools to become secular.

“It's a detailed regulation, and it says that if a religious institution owns the building that the preschool is using, then they can't get state funds,” Ball said. “The only way they could get state funds is if

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