Constitutional Amendment 2 will ask Kentucky voters in the upcoming election a seemingly simple question with significant ramifications for Kentucky’s education system: Should the legislature be able to provide financial support for the education of students outside of public schools?
The state’s constitution currently prevents the legislature from using public funds for that purpose, but the proposal would open the door to charter and private school choice models seen in states like Florida and Arizona.
Voters will answer “Yes” or “No” to providing “financial support” to pay for kids in K-12 schooling to be educated outside of the public school system. It proposes to amend the state’s foundational document by disregarding seven existing sections, including one that says the General Assembly may only enact taxes that are applied equally across the state and the section requiring that the legislature provide an “efficient system of common schools” throughout Kentucky.
The ballot description of the amendment, as decided by GOP lawmakers, is “to give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children.”
A successful “Yes” vote would amend the state constitution and allow legislators to explore a private school choice system in the future.
If a majority of Kentuckians vote “No”, the status quo would remain in place, and the state constitution would continue to restrict public funds to the system of common schools.
The amendment would not in and of itself implement a new funding system, and lawmakers have yet to specify what such a system would look like if Amendment 2 passes, but similar systems across the country show wide-reaching consequences for state budgets, school districts and families.
What is a “private school choice” system?
An analysis by Education Week found 29 U.S. states have at least one private school choice program, and 12 have a universal program accessible to every K-12 student statewide (rather than targeted at specific groups).
Proponents of these privatized systems say they give parents more say in the quality and focus of their child’s education. Opponents argue they funnel public school funding to unaccountable private pockets.
School vouchers or education savings accounts (ESAs): According to the Education Commission of the States, 13 states and Washington, D.C. have a voucher program. The state essentially agrees to pay some set amount of money for a student’s private school tuition — it’s often based on the state’s “per-pupil” allocation, which in Kentucky is an average of $4,586 for the 2024-2025 school year based on a school’s average daily attendance.
This is by far the most controversial of the possibilities under Amendment 2. Opponents have dubbed it the “voucher amendment.” Proponents say it’s merely one possibility, not a sure thing.
ESAs are very similar and often described as synonymous to vouchers. Essentially, the government sets up a state-funded savings account for parents that they can withdraw from for any number of educational purposes.
Arizona was an early adopter of ESAs, which started out restricted to students with disabilities before being expanded in 2022 to all students. The nonpartisan Grand Canyon Institute said the new program was largely to blame for the state’s ensuing $1.4 billion budget shortfall.
According to the pro-school choice group EdChoice, 17 states have ESA programs. Indiana and Tennessee both have ESA programs that are limited to certain students in the states; for example, Tennessee has an ESA program that applies to students who live in Memphis, Nashville or Chattanooga.
Tax credit scholarships or ESAs: This is one of the most common types of “school choice” programs, found in 21 states. It allows individuals and corporations to contribute to scholarship funds in exchange for tax credits. Families can apply to use scholarship funds to pay for educational expenses like private school tuition.
The Education Opportunity Account program (EOA Act), which narrowly passed Kentucky’s legislature in 2021 before the state Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional, would have implemented such a scholarship system.
Charter schools: Something of a hybrid between public and private options, a charter school is a tuition-free school that is publicly funded but independently run. They are found in nearly every state — 44 and Washington, D.C.
They are usually exempt from many state regulations and the strictures applied to public schools, but in exchange they are bound by a “charter” that usually includes academic goals and accountability requirements.
Unlike most of the other types listed above, charter schools are commonly found in both Democrat and Republican-controlled states. Charter schools can be run by nonprofit or for-profit organizations, although some states limit them to only nonprofit management organizations.
A 2022 Kentucky law that set up a funding mechanism for charter schools was struck down last year, with Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruling it unconstitutional.
Possible state budget impact
Jason Bailey is the executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning independent research and policy think tank. KCEP has spent the last year looking deeper into how Amendment 2 could impact Kentucky.
“This amendment is very broadly written, and it has no guardrails for how much money can be spent or who could benefit from whatever results,” Bailey said. “So we really wanted to look at what’s likely to happen.”
One analysis by KCEP published earlier this year found private school choice systems in other states significantly increase the cost to state budgets.
The analysis said establishing a program in Kentucky proportional to Florida’s system, the largest among school choice systems in the U.S., would cost the commonwealth $1.19 billion annually.
“That’s equal to funding and keeping nearly 10,000 public school teachers and employees,” Bailey said. “With the scale of these programs across the country, especially in the last couple years, the cost has exploded.”
Proponents say that those attempting to estimate a cost for the amendment are getting ahead of themselves. Because the amendment does not include any enacting legislation, some Republican lawmakers and advocates say it doesn’t make sense to try and attach a cost.
“This amendment, all it does is basically allows the legislature to start even having a conversation about school choice and potentially passing a school choice law, but that’s all the amendment does,” said Heather LeMire, the Kentucky state director with Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group.
It’s the same logic that House Republicans made when the chamber voted to put the amendment on the ballot this year. Rep. Suzanne Miles from Owensboro, who sponsored the bill, and Speaker David Osborne from Prospect argued that it was irrelevant to discuss potential “school choice” legislation because the bill merely makes all legislation in that area possible.
Bailey acknowledged that it’s hard to say specifically what could happen if Amendment 2 passes without a specific plan of action by lawmakers.
“On such a sweeping change to the constitution that overturns over 120 years of precedent, why have they not laid out what they’re going to do?” Bailey said. “I think I know why — because it would be controversial and costly, because that’s what’s happening in other states.”
Several states that instituted limited school choice programs have more recently made them universal or near-universal, according to EdWeek; last year alone, six states expanded their programs to nearly every student in the state.
How are families impacted?
Kentucky Students First, an advocacy group supporting the amendment, has distributed literature statewide advocating for private school choice.
The group states Amendment 2 would “create new opportunities for low-income, minority, and special needs students,” presumably by helping families access private, specialized education that would otherwise be unaffordable.
Additionally, the Protect Freedom political action committee, largely funded by billionaire businessman Jeff Yass, has run several television ads advocating for the amendment. One of them features U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and his wife, Kelley, saying teacher pay has increased alongside math and reading test scores in states with private school choice.
Some recent major studies show that low-income students do not see improved test scores because they attend private schools, according to a Chalkbeat review. Some students even saw worsening scores. Other studies show that vouchers have a positive or neutral impact on a child’s long-term outcomes.
The analysis also found a potential increase in student and parent satisfaction with private education, though results varied by location.
Charter schools too, are a major possibility that could come out of Amendment 2. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO, found in their latest study that charter school students show greater academic gains than their peers at “traditional public schools,” gaining, on average, the equivalent of 16 days of learning in reading and six days in math.
However, studies have also shown that charter schools divert money from school districts and districts end up cutting costs as a result, which in some places has meant closing schools altogether.
The report from KCEP earlier this year found that in states that have universal voucher programs, between 65% and 90% of voucher costs go to families that already send students to private schools or plan to do so. The report also states these families already have an average household income roughly 54% higher than those who send students to public school.
There is some disagreement on the effect Amendment 2 could have on rural families. Jefferson, Kenton and Fayette Counties contain more than half of the state’s certified private schools. Many students live in a county that doesn’t contain any private school — according to KCEP, that’s 63% of Kentucky counties.
Some proponents say that the amendment is aimed largely at the state’s urban school districts, especially Jefferson County Public Schools. They argue the amendment simply won’t affect rural school districts, which in many cases are the single largest employer in the county. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell, who is running for Republican state representative in Louisville, said she believes the amendment could also help parents who choose to homeschool.
“If there aren’t any private schools now and there aren’t any private schools next year, what’s the difference between voting yes or no on the amendment?” Cottrell said. “This amendment does not have the word private school in it. It doesn’t have the word voucher or the word homeschool. It enables the legislature to contemplate an array of options.”
But a number of superintendents in rural districts disagree, fearing large-scale school choice programs would suck money from their budgets and deposit it in urban areas that abound with private school options. Rep. Nick Wilson, a first-term Republican from Williamsburg, said he is opposed to the amendment and feared it would hurt students in rural areas.
“I don’t see how in the world it’s good for public schools,” Wilson said, according to The Times-Tribune.
How are school districts impacted?
Employees of public school districts statewide have banded together in various ways to warn voters of what they describe as Amendment 2’s negative consequences.
Protect Our Schools KY is a coalition of public school employees from every corner of the state. Volunteers have spent recent weeks holding meetings and canvassing voters in hopes of swaying the public against the amendment.
Rob Clayton is superintendent of Warren County Public Schools, Kentucky’s fourth largest school district with roughly 18,000 students. He and other superintendents have become staunch supporters of Protect Our Schools KY.
Clayton says Amendment 2’s passage would further strain the state’s educational funding after over a decade of lackluster support. He said when you look at the data around private school choice systems, the movement behind the proposal appears to be “an attempt by some to privatize public school education.”
Clayton has regularly called for a return to pre-2008 levels of funding, when 60% of the district’s budget was state-funded. The state funds less than 50% of the budget now as local taxpayers pick up the cost.
Legislators provided some public education boosts during the 2024 General Assembly session, especially through additional pension funding, but ultimately fell far short of Clayton’s recommendations — a trend repeated for nearly a decade.
“Why would we be looking at putting this extra strain on the education budget when it’s been very clear from lawmakers that the money has not been there?” Clayton asks.
Clayton, as well as Protect Our Schools KY and KCEP researchers, say a shift to a private school choice system would hit rural districts especially hard. He said while WCPS is in a slightly better position due to local growth and tax assessments, smaller districts in remote areas will feel the crunch most.
Kentucky Students First, the pro-amendment group, states Amendment 2 would “invest more money into our public education system which means more funds for better teacher pay,” though Clayton and Bailey said that claim was unfounded.
“I’ve spoken with superintendents in all of these states, and I’ve yet to hear an educator tell me that any privatization of public school dollars has led to what proponents of amendment claim — increases in teacher pay, in parent choice, in education funding,” Clayton says. “They’re all myths.”
A 2019 report from ChalkBeat found that most school districts can successfully weather the increased strain, but must raise local taxes or close schools to do so.
Large municipalities with more charter schools — places like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Orleans — have been particularly susceptible to rounds of school closures.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This story is republished with permission from WKMS. Read the original.
Sylvia Goodman is Kentucky Public Radio's Capitol reporter. Email her at sgoodman@lpm.org.
Michael J. Collins studies journalism and political science at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Michael previously worked at the WKU College Heights Herald as Editor-in-Chief, overseeing all daily operations for print and WKUHerald.com. He also worked as a writer from 2019-2020, Digital News editor during the spring of 2021, and Content Manager in the fall of 2021. He also worked as a multimedia reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the summer of 2021. He produced videos for STLToday.com as well as photos and writing for print. Michael worked as a reporter for the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and WFPL 89.3 in Louisville, Kentucky, during the summer of 2022. Michael wrote and produced news and feature segments for radio and articles for web. His investigative work with KyCIR focused primarily on judicial ethics and prison conditions.
