Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
After Kentucky voters thwarted a Republican-backed “school choice” amendment, the legislature’s supermajority will likely focus on holding “poorly performing school systems” accountable, said Republican Senate President Robert Stivers.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, meanwhile, said the amendment’s landslide defeat is a message from Kentuckians to pump more resources into public schools; Beshear repeated his calls for raising teacher pay and providing universal preschool. The General Assembly should “recognize the will of the people and get serious about ensuring that every Kentucky child gets a world-class public education,” Beshear said.
In a news conference the morning after the election, Stivers singled out public schools in Louisville’s West End and “an African American population that’s been left behind” as the motivation for putting Amendment 2 on the ballot — “not as people were saying” to give “rich people” tax credits. “It was to focus on the poorest and the most needy, like the West End, to create a different type of educational opportunity, to give them a better economic trajectory.”
Almost 65% of Kentucky voters rejected the amendment, which failed in all 120 counties, according to unofficial results. Opponents had warned that public schools would be drained of funding if Kentucky followed the lead of some Republican legislatures and governors by funding vouchers to pay for private school tuition. The amendment would have allowed the legislature for the first time to fund nonpublic schools.
“The public has spoken,” Stivers said. “They said they don’t like that pathway. … So we’re going to look at other pathways to have accountability and performance in poorly performing school districts. And I think everybody is for that. You want accountability and good performance in public education.” Some Republicans have called for splitting the Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky’s largest school system, into smaller districts, and a legislative task force has been studying the district’s governance.
Stivers also said the Republican supermajority—whose numbers were unchanged by the election—wants to keep lowering the state income tax and give Kentuckians “even better days.”
“We’re going to create additional job opportunities, educational opportunities. We’re going to invest in infrastructure. And probably one of the first things we do when we walk in in January is reduce your income taxes.”
If Amendment 2 had passed, sections of the state Constitution that courts have said reserve public money for public, or “common schools,” would have been suspended. Courts have struck down recent Kentucky laws creating charter schools and tax credits to support private school tuition that the Republican supermajority had enacted.
In an election night phone interview after the amendment was defeated, outgoing Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown said he was unsure what’s next for “school choice” measures. He announced that he would not seek reelection ahead of the 2024 legislative session.
“Clearly our supermajorities believe strongly in school choice,” Thayer said. “And I know if I were coming back, I’d try to lead the way on figuring out another way forward, but that’s not really going to be up to me.”
Public education advocates now see little to no path for the legislature to direct public funding to nonpublic schools. On Wednesday, Paula Pleasant, a Greenup County Schools teacher and member of KY120 United-AFT, told the Lantern she feels confident that Kentucky’s public education funding would be protected in the future thanks to the clear “no” vote on Amendment 2.
“I think this vote, and the message is clear, that even though Kentucky is a red state, we still are favorable to our public schools and public education, especially with it being such a large employer in rural counties,” Pleasant said. “So, now I just feel like we’re at the point of, ‘OK, you’ve tried everything in your playbook. This was your last play.’ Doesn’t mean they won’t try to do it again, but (I’m) very confident in that margin of victory.”
Pleasant said she hopes lawmakers will finally give serious consideration to Beshear’s education proposals. She noted that Greenup County has offered a universal pre-K program since 2015 and early intervention helps students succeed.
However, supporting public education isn’t just about giving teacher raises, Pleasant said. Respect for teachers is needed to cut through harmful rhetoric against the profession. “We’re not trying to indoctrinate kids,” Pleasant said. “We’re really just trying to teach kids and take care of them, and that it has to be a community effort.”
Will Powers, the policy and public engagement coordinator for the Kentucky Student Voice Team, said it’s “hard to take a guess what (lawmakers) would do” after they attempted to circumnavigate the court decisions with the amendment.
“I can’t say what’s going to happen in the future, but if I were in their shoes and I just got shellacked, I probably wouldn’t go for round two,” Powers said.
Jason Bailey, executive director of the progressive think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, said the defeat of Amendment 2 “really takes it off the table.” He added that he hopes lawmakers shift their focus toward solutions.
“It’s time to bring the conversation back to our public schools and how we can properly fund them, address the teacher shortage, the bus driver shortage,” Bailey said. “Look at things like universal preschool that we know work. Reinvest in the things that Kentucky’s public schools have needed for a long time.”
On election night, Senator-elect Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, told the Lantern she remains cautious about Republicans’ intent. “I’m sure that there’s some trick that they’ve got up their sleeves, but Kentuckians have spoken loud and clear that they want our public tax dollars to go to public schools.”
Amendment 2 was heralded by Republicans, including U.S. Sen Rand Paul, as a way to address poor performance in public schools by creating competition and give families options like private or charter schools.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
