As Election Day draws closer, discussion over the polarizing Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 2 has intensified.
On Monday, LINK nky and local education nonprofit Educate NKY hosted a Community Conversation about Amendment 2, also known as the Allow State Funding for Non-Public Education Amendment, at the Erlanger Branch of the Kenton County Library.
The forum featured panelists Jim Waters of the Bluegrass Initiative, Jorge Elorza of Democrats for Education Reform, Brigitte Blom of the Prichard Committee and Lauren Hodge of the yes. every kid. foundation.
The Bluegrass Initiative has publicly endorsed Amendment 2’s passage, while the Prichard Committee opposes it. Neither the Democrats for Education Reform nor the yes. every kid. foundation has taken a public stance on Amendment 2.
If passed, Amendment 2 would allow legislators to create laws that would provide public funding for non-public education. While it does not automatically create or enable a voucher program or fund charter schools, it would set up the legal environment to do so in the future. Read more about the amendment, what it would change about the constitution, and what those for and against it say here.
Blom started the conversation by explaining the Prichard Committee’s opposition to the passing of Amendment 2, specifically about removing public education funding barriers.
“The fact of the matter is that Amendment 2 is about an amendment to Kentucky’s constitution that would take the barriers away for money to flow to private education, for the legislature to target specific areas of the state, without regard to other areas of the state,” she said.
Waters said that although Amendment 2’s passage would eliminate funding barriers, Kentucky would be following in the footsteps of all seven of its bordering states – Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, West Virginia and Virginia – all of which have passed some version of similar legislation.
“This amendment does remove barriers, but it removes a barrier to allowing Kentucky families the same kind of education, freedom and choices that parents of other states, including all seven that surround Kentucky, already have,” he said.
Waters and other Amendment 2 proponents argue that Kentucky parents and students deserve more choice when deciding where to attend school. As such, they believe a more market-based education system would benefit the state’s public and private education.
Critics have widely panned Amendment 2 for its potential to enable legislation allowing public funding of private schools or publicly-funded charter schools.
Kentucky has established a nonresident enrollment program that allows all public school districts to adopt nonresident student policies and allows Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK, funding to follow enrolled nonresident students without an agreement with the student’s resident district. However, Kentucky law allows districts to charge tuition to nonresident students.
Accountability was also a core theme of the panel discussion. Waters argued that Kentucky’s public school system lacks accountability, saying parental choice in a market-based education system could improve all student outcomes.
“Where’s the accountability for failing a majority of our kids in public education system?” Waters asked. “Why would we want to use accountability to prevent parents from having that option? That’s the greatest accountability is if a parent isn’t satisfied with what a school is doing, they don’t have to enroll their child in a charter school or non-public school. They have a say.”
Elorza and the Democrats for Education Reform believe that many state public education systems are failing students throughout the country. The organization believes that parental choice, or school choice, could help remedy the status quo.
“The truth is that the status quo is not serving too many of our kids throughout the country,” Elorza said. “Kids are being failed throughout the country, and this is indefensible and unacceptable.”
Another question that sparked a lively debate was whether the passing of Amendment 2 would positively impact schools in rural communities around the state. Most private schools are concentrated in the more populous areas of Northern Kentucky, Lexington and Louisville. In many rural counties across Kentucky, the public school system is often the county’s largest employer.
From the Prichard Committee’s perspective, the passing of Amendment 2 could disproportionately benefit private schools located in more populous, affluent areas in the state.
“If we end up with a school voucher scheme in Kentucky, the money will be concentrated in those three (Kenton, Fayette and Jefferson) counties from the vouchers, and it will necessarily have to come from the public education budget, because we have a General Assembly that is committed to moving the moving the income tax out of the state,” Blom said.
In contrast, Waters argued that charter schools could fill the gap for rural students, providing them access to curriculum their local school district may not provide.
“We see that charter schools are providing and filling gaps for students in rural areas,” Waters said. “If a student in the rural area of Kentucky cannot get an advanced placement class that they might want to take to pursue an engineering degree, maybe their local district doesn’t do that. This could provide them an option of doing that.”
Blom criticized a market-based education system, saying that the passage of Amendment 2 could lead to unregulated funding programs, especially in rural areas. She described these hypothetical programs as “predatory lending for education.”
Ultimately, Blom said she wants public education money to benefit the greatest amount of students.
“It’s not just about my choice as a parent, it’s about all of us benefiting from the successes and the failures in education and ensuring that the system gets better so that when we are all on the other side of it, we have an educated, participatory workforce in a highly educated population in Kentucky that benefits all of us,” Blom said.
Whether or not Amendment 2 passes, Hodge said, there is still much to be done regarding improving public education nationwide.
“There is no single policy or single solution,” she said.
