'School choice': Bill would amend Kentucky Constitution to fund charter schools
Republicans are once again pressing forward "school choice," introducing a bill Tuesday that would give voters the choice to alter the words surrounding schools within the state's constitution.
Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, introduced House Bill 208, which asks if voters would want to amend the Constitution of Kentucky to "give families of limited financial means more educational choices."
The bill is in response to two Kentucky Supreme Court decisions, which ruled that public tax dollars must be spent on the state's "common" - interpreted as public - schools and cannot be diverted to charter or private schools.
The amendment would change this, allowing the legislature to provide "a portion of the educational costs for parents of students outside of that common school system," the bill says. The funding would not be "taken directly from the common school fund."
If legislators pass the bill, the question would be placed on the November ballot. If approved by voters, a bill outlining Republicans' school choice program likely would be introduced in the 2025 session.
Republican lawmakers have been working to expand school choice for Kentucky families for years, but each attempt has fallen short.
In 2021, a program that would have provided dollar-for-dollar tax credits to those donating money for nonpublic school tuition was passed by the legislature. Later that year, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled the program was unconstitutional and blocked it from going into effect.
"This Court does not dispute that many students and their families, both in public and private schools, could greatly benefit from the financial assistance provided for in this legislation," Shepherd wrote in his ruling.
"Yet, the very fact that so many children need additional educational assistance, beyond what is presently funded and appropriated for the public schools, is an indication that we, as a state, may well be falling short of the constitutional mandate of 'an efficient system of common schools,'" he continued.
The program could have cost the state up to $25 million in its first year. Both individuals and corporations would have been able to write off up to $1 million on their state income taxes.
That bill was geared toward both low-income and middle-income families, but Calloway's focuses just on low-income families.
In 2022, legislation that would have created funding for charter schools was passed but was also deemed unconstitutional last year by the state Supreme Court. Charter schools have been legal in Kentucky since 2017, but there are none largely because of a lack of funding.
All but seven states have charter schools.
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The amendment will have support by legislators in the House and Senate.
Ahead of the session, Sen. Steve West, chairman of the Senate's Education Committee, told The Courier Journal the court's interpretation of the state constitution was a "very expansive reading," that "painted the legislature into a box" when it comes to giving families more educational opportunities.
"I'm pro-school choice," said West, R-Paris. "It will enhance education in Kentucky ... and it's not going to destroy public schools."
Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, also told The Courier Journal giving more parents the option to choose a school outside the public school system would foster competition and improve outcomes for all students.
"If this parental choice program were to hurt public schools, I wouldn’t support it," Nemes said.
The fundamental question, he said, is if taxpayer dollars should follow children regardless of where a parent seeks their education.
"There are an overwhelming number of states that support school choice, and I think it's time for Kentucky to have it, too," he said.
Critics do not see it this way, though.
"I really think school choice is just a nice way of phrasing privatizing education," said Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association. "It's a really bad idea for multiple reasons. ... We're already way short on funding for what we have, so you'd be taking the pie that's already not big enough, then dividing it into many more pieces."
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McKim also referred to these programs as a "political calculation" for some lawmakers who see it as a way to decrease teacher union membership, given teachers associations' past financial support for Democratic candidates.
Whether or not Kentucky voters will approve a change to the constitution is unclear. The last constitutional amendment questions placed on the ballot was in 2022, when Republicans sought to deny constitutional protections for abortion and to allow the legislature to call itself into a special session. Both measures were voted down.
Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: School vouchers could be allowed in Kentucky under HB 208
