FRANKFORT, Ky. — Deciding between public and private school can mean a world of difference for kids like Nehemiah Yancey.
“Private school has been really good to me and public school has not,” he said. “When I came home with homework, I never knew how to do it, but at my private school I get as much help as I need.”
Yancey’s mother, Akia McNeary, choose to enroll her son in a private school in Florence following some difficulties he had in public school early on.
“It warms my heart, like, sometimes it brings me to tears because I see that all my sacrifices are worth it because he’s learning what he needs to learn,” she said.
McNeary is also part of a group advocating for more resources to go to private schools, and that group celebrated School Choice Week with a rally at the Old State Capitol in Frankfort.
EdChoice Kentucky president Andrew Vandiver helped organize it.
“This issue transcends politics,” he said. “It’s really about parents being in the position to make the best decision for their kids.”
Vandiver and EdChoice are putting their weight behind a couple bills that expand Education Opportunity Accounts, a program that helps parents pay for school supplies and tuition, including for private schools.
Sen. Ralph Alvarado (R-Winchester) sponsors one bill, Senate Bill 50.
“I want every student here and every student across Kentucky to have the opportunity to chase their passion and be inspired to love learning,” he said.
Rep. Josh Calloway (R-Irvington) sponsored a similar bill, House Bill 305, that would make more families eligible for the program and give more money in tax credits to those who donate to education opportunity accounts
Education opportunity accounts passed last session with the bare minimum of lawmakers needed in the House to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto during the 2021 regular session, and because people who fund the accounts get a tax break, many questioned why that money couldn’t just go to public education.
In a statement, Kentucky Education Association President Eddie Campbell said both SB 50 and HB 305 are bad bill
“They’re bad for the 90 percent of our children who attend our public schools. They’re bad for the taxpayers of Kentucky. They’re bad for the communities who will pay for these ‘tax refunds,’ and (they’re) bad for those kids who can be refused entry to a private school because they may not meet a required or desired criteria.”
A Franklin Circuit Judge found the program unconstitutional last year, and Vandiver said he hopes for a quick resolution from the Kentucky Supreme Court.
“This program takes nothing from the public schools,” he said. “Literally no dollars are taken from the public school budget and given to private schools. This is a privately funded program.”