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Correction: Originally, this article included no counter statement to Sen. Donald Douglass’ statement. The Jessamine Journal apologizes for this mistake. This article now includes a statement from Jessamine County School Board Chair, Steven Scrivner

In this election, voters will have the option to vote on two different amendments. The second Amendment concerns public education and has been the subject of much discourse in Jessamine County and the state as a whole, with mail flyers and political ads being impossible to miss.

Voters can vote yes in support of the Amendment and in support of enabling the general assembly to provide financial support for students outside the public school system. Or voters can vote no, which will keep the general assembly from being able to support non-public schools financially according to the state constitution. The wording of Amendment 2 is as follows:

To give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children, are you in favor of enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in Kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools by amending the Constitution of Kentucky as stated below?

A new section will be added to the 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, Sections 59, 60, 171, 183, 184, 186, and 189​ of this Constitution notwithstanding”.

To be clear, when the former passage states seven sections of the constitution are “notwithstanding,” that means that the proposed section will take precedence over those seven sections.

Section 171 states, “The General Assembly shall provide by law an annual tax, which, with other resources, shall be sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the Commonwealth for each fiscal year. Taxes shall be levied and collected for public purposes only.”

Section 183 states, “The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the state.”

Section 184 states, “The bond of the commonwealth issues in favor of the Board of Education… shall be held inviolate (safe from violation) for the purpose of sustaining the system of common schools. No sum shall be raised or collected for education other than in common schools.”

Section 186 states, “All funds accruing to the school fund shall be used for the maintenance of the public schools of the Commonwealth, and for no other purpose.”

Finally, section 189 states, “School money not to be used for church, sectarian, or denominational school.”

The sections of the constitution that would be stricken with the proposed amendment directly contradict the idea that support for private and charter schools will not come from public school funds since those sections directly state that Public School money shall not be used for private schools.

Proponents of school choice, like Senator Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, have released statements on why they support the amendment.

“States ranking ahead of Kentucky in educational outcomes have some kind of school choice, such as public charter schools. While opponents of Amendment 2 are unwilling to consider how we can improve our educational system, states across the nation and in every direction have already shown us the positive benefits of educational freedom and parental choice. School choice has not come at the expense of public education; rather, a rising tide lifts all ships,” reads Douglass’ statement.

Chair of the Jessamine County School Board, Steven Scrivner, made a statement on Facebook regarding the amendment. “In short, Amendment 2 is a disaster of a proposal and is worded in a way that gives the legislature broad authority to sort of do whatever they want with funds meant for public education. It’s being sold as a cure all for education without really giving any specifics on how that would work other than convincing voters to just trust that politicians know what to do. And given how little input (zero) our own local legislators have sought from our superintendent on this amendment, that’s kind of a frightening proposition. There are any number of specific proposals that could be made to strengthen our public schools, but this isn’t one of them,” Scrivner said.

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KyPolicy) is an independent, nonpartisan research and policy organization that addresses fiscal and economic policy in Kentucky. The Organization conducts its research by investigating states that provide public money to private schools and how this has impacted those states.

According to its research, if Kentucky establishes a Florida-style voucher program, and this Amendment is passed, 30 percent of funding for public schools would support private schools. This means, according to KyPolicy, in Jessamine County, that the budget will be reduced by 13 percent, 135 educator jobs will be cut, and $14 million in funding will move out of the public school system.

Flyers going around Jessamine County and being mailed to voters make claims such as “A vote YES on Amendment 2 will help Kentucky get back on track and raise teacher pay.” The organization that makes this claim, the Bluegrass Institute, or Bipps.org, states that ‘increased school choices raises the demand for teachers’ services. Studies indicate that this increased demand pushes up the pay for teachers generally in public, private, or charter schools,” and that this competition will lead to higher pay all around.

However, the General Assembly has already struggled to approve a 2024-2025 school year budget with adequate raises to keep salaries with inflation for teachers. According to the Jessamine Journal’s reporting on House Bill 6, the Bill on the Public Education Budget, with HB6’s current language, all central Kentucky districts can provide about a two percent raise in the 24-25 school year and only about a zero to one percent raise in the 25-26 school year.

There was also language in House Bill 6 that “may suggest school districts are getting significant increases and threats of school closures and district mergers if improvements in hiring and retention are not made.”

The Bluegrass Institute answered multiple questions regarding Amendment 2 on its website. In answer to the question, “Do school choice programs take money away from public schools?” The website states, “The Kentucky Constitution remains unchanged concerning the commitment to public schools.” However, we know this isn’t true due to the aforementioned sections of the Kentucky Constitution to be stricken by Amendment 2.

A type of school choice is currently available in Kentucky, as parents and guardians can bring their children to public schools outside of their home county. Thanks to legislation passed in 2022, families can pay a fee of $500 a year to bring their kids to a public school outside of their home county and $250 if the student wants to do virtual learning at a public school outside of their home county.

According to KyPolicy, the recent experience of other states shows that 65%-90% of voucher costs go to subsidize families already sending their children to private schools or planning to do so—a group whose average household income in Kentucky is 54% higher than that of public school families. Providing financial support to that group will easily cost the state hundreds of millions based on the number of Kentucky students already in private schools.

While it may help students in Louisville, as some have argued, according to KyPolicy, the cost of paying for vouchers will directly hit the state’s poorest rural areas the hardest because low property wealth makes them more dependent on state dollars for public education.