With Election Day a little more than a month away, south western Kentucky’s citizens are hearing more and more about Amendment 2 — perhaps better termed “The School Choice Amendment.”
As it reads on the ballot:
“To give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children, are you in favor of enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common [public] schools by amending the Constitution of Kentucky?”
The Commonwealth’s public schools, board members and general leadership aren’t allowed to use district social media, nor community tax dollars, to discuss one’s opinion about the law.
Instead, someone like Trigg County’s new superintendent, Rex Booth, can discuss its potential impact, even if he cannot state his personal opinion on the matter.
Booth noted the majority of the state’s private schools reside in the Jefferson, Fayette and Kenton region, and more than 60% of the Commonwealth doesn’t have access to a current private school inside its own county.
He did call the language “a scary thing” for public schools, many of which have their budgets fully reliant on state funding, and that many public schools across the state are “already underfunded.”
If passed, Amendment 2 could allow:
+ For taxpayer-funded vouchers for some families to pay for things like tuition, fees and more at private, religious and/or homeschool programs, already legal in 14 states;
+ For education savings accounts to accept taxpayer funds be deposited directly into avenues designed to help some families pay for private school tuition and fees, already legal in 18 states;
+ And for donor contributions toward tuition and other costs to count as scholarship tax credits, already legal in 20 states.
Booth also noted that “school choice” already exists in Kentucky, and that private/religious schools aren’t required by the Kentucky General Assembly to provide public transportation to those in need.
According to Louisville Courier Journal’s Hannah Pinski, Attorney General Russell Coleman this week issued a cease-and-desist letter to Augusta Independent and its superintendent, Lisa McCane, ordering officials to remove a social media post advocating against Amendment 2.
Coleman detailed that “district resources and social media,” namely public tax dollars, may not be used to advocate for or against constitutional amendments, nor can they be used to express “any partisan political language.”
Those in favor of Amendment 2, including a recent commercial voiced by Senator Rand Paul and his wife, Kelley, note the measure — if approved — could improve the lives of low- and middle-income families who might seek other options rather than “failing” and “violent” schools, and that “school choice” is a “civil rights issue.”
A former teacher, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman responded to the Pauls, and said “school choice” would simply be “a lot of work to re-segregate” hallways and classrooms, and that it would actually leave behind kids who are “in poverty” and “marginalized,” and instead would bolster the programming and resources of private education investments.
