KENTUCKY — We are getting closer to the November’s 2024 general election. When registered voters in Kentucky cast their ballots in this year’s election cycle, along with local races, your ballot will include two constitutional amendments—Amendment 1 is a citizenship requirement measure. Amendment 2 would allow lawmakers to consider and debate more educational options for families of school-age kids in kindergarten through 12th grade.

State Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, is the sponsor of what was House Bill 2, during the 2024 legislative session in Frankfort. The legislation seeks to remove constitutional barriers as it relates to providing financial support for the education costs of students, who are outside the system of common (public) schools.

During this segment, State Rep. Miles explains her reasons for filing the bill during the session and shares why she is encouraging Kentuckians to vote “yes” on Constitutional Amendment 2.

“I think everyone’s aware of things nationally with our education system, K through 12, is the one gap that we have not been participating in, making good decisions, investments, and so we’ve done record funding. But money is not going to fix the issue. We’ve got children out there who have been left behind, families that have been left behind. So we kind of need to figure out how we can work with that. Obviously, whenever we kind of walk through the process of it, it keeps coming back up again throughout the process. Everything we’ve tried so far constitutionally, they come back and say, you can’t help a specific child, or you can’t help it’s not constitutional because of the way that our constitution is set up. So obviously, all the tools that we have today for education were not consistent at the time the Constitution was established, and that was part of the thought process. As far as the wording of the of the question that was on the bill, how it would change the Constitution, it was very intentional that it would open the door for us have the conversations on how we can help every child thrive,” explains Miles.

Miles also comments on misconceptions about Amendment 2 and asks voters to fully read the wording of the proposed ballot question to understand the constitutional changes it would bring. 

“Either they have not read the bill, they have not read the question that would be on the on the ballot, or what the Constitution would actually change, or there on purpose misleading people on what that means, because the bill specifically, what is the wording on the ballot and how it would change our Constitution has zero to do with any type of specific funding. All it’ll do is open the door for us to have those conversations. And quite honestly, it gives us an opportunity to kind of start with a clean slate. Let’s look at what could potentially be to come. But work with educators, work with families, and kind of find out where are our gaps, and how can we help them more?,” adds Miles.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.