Kentucky House GOP leader files ‘school choice’ bill to amend state constitution

A member of Republican leadership in the Kentucky House of Representatives has filed a bill that would amend the state constitution to allow public money to go to private and charter schools.



Majority Caucus Chair Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, filed House Bill 2 Friday morning, the second such “school choice” amendment to be proposed in the House this year.

Section 183 of the Kentucky Constitution currently requires the General Assembly “shall...provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the state.”

But Miles’ bill would amend it to allow for state money to help fund enrollment at private and charter schools. Previous Republican-backed laws that have attempted to do just that have been struck down in court.

The bill would add a section to the constitution stating that, notwithstanding other provisions of the Kentucky Constitution, the “General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools. The General Assembly may exercise this authority by law in particular places as it deems proper.”

“This has been a conversation for, really, multiple decades now. I think it’s time for us to let the voters decide,” Miles said.

Three-fifths of members in both the House and Senate must approve of proposed amendments to the Kentucky Constitution in order for them to make it the statewide ballot. If given the OK by lawmakers, the issue will appear on the November ballot. It would then need to be approved by the majority of voters.

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Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, filed House Bill 208, which would amend the constitution to require the state to put money towards schooling outside of the traditional public school system, the second week of this legislative session. It has not received a committee assignment, but it has racked up 28 co-sponsors.

Miles said that her bill was a “cleaner version” of the amendment and did not “go as far as dictating” certain government actions. Instead of requiring the General Assembly to fund certain types of education, House Bill 2 simply allows the state to fund “education of students outside the system of common schools.”

“It just clarifies that we have the authority to do so,” House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said. “We continue to bounce around what is allowable and not allowable. This just purely defines that we have the authority to make policy. It does not establish any policy, but gives absolute clarification that we have the authority to make policy.”

Osborne said he was “confident” the bill would pass through the House and that some constitutional amendment in support of the school choice movement will get on the ballot this year. He said the fact that Miles’ bill was assigned as House Bill 2 was a “pretty good indication” it would pass the chamber.

Heading into the 2024 General Assembly, many Republican lawmakers were clear school choice would be one of their top priorities. Losses for the school choice movement in the courtroom have shown getting it done will take changing the constitution.

In late 2022, the Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 2021 bill that would have created a privately funded needs-based assistance program to cover educational expenses for families that would have been offset by tax credits.

Then, in December, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd struck down a law that would have set up a funding mechanism for charter schools in the state. Because charter schools are publicly funded but operated by independent groups, Shepherd said “the plain language of the Kentucky Constitution itself, yields the inescapable conclusion” that they do not meet the definition of public schools.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who won reelection in November, has promised to fight any school choice effort.

“I’m opposed to any school choice amendment and any voucher program — anything that would take dollars from our public schools and send them to unaccountable private schools,” he told the Herald-Leader editorial board in October.

This is a developing story that may be updated.