# Breathitt County Board of Education v. Prater

> Kentucky Supreme Court · August 27, 2009 · 292 S.W.3d 883

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5108715

## Case

- **Full name:** BREATHITT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION v. Dot PRATER
- **Court:** Kentucky Supreme Court
- **Decided:** August 27, 2009
- **Citations:** 292 S.W.3d 883; 2009 Ky. LEXIS 193; 2009 WL 2706655
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Venters
- **Judges:** Abramson, Cunningham, Minton, Noble, Schroder, Scott, Venters
- **Cited by:** 136 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5108715

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that a board of education’s provision of housing on school premises for its night watchperson was governmental because the board’s purpose was “not to raise revenue or to participate in the local housing market”
- noting that the board’s purpose in providing housing for night watchperson on school grounds was not a proprietary function because the board’s purpose was not to raise revenue or participate in the local housing market
- holding that an order denying summary judgment to a party asserting immunity is appealable
- concluding “the Board’s provision of housing for its night watchperson was a government act in direct furtherance of its education purpose”
- stating "an order denying a substantial claim of absolute immunity is immediately appealable even in the absence of a final judgment."

## Opinion text

VENTERS, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The residence provided by the Board of Education for a maintenance employee is not connected to the governmental function of educating children. The majority relies upon previous decisions of this Court wherein the activity in question was essential to the core governmental function of public education. In Withers, we noted that the University of Kentucky Medical Center’s essential mission was to teach medical students. In Yanero, we recognized the educational purpose of an interscholastic athletics program. In Autry, we recognized that dormitory housing for students was an essential part of Western Kentucky University’s duty to educate college students. Maintaining the personal, private house for the use of the school maintenance worker and her social guests has nothing to do with the school district’s educational mission. The keeping of that house is a purely proprietary function, and the alleged failure to maintain that property in a safe condition should not be cloaked with governmental immunity.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5108715. Public record. Not legal advice.