LOUISVILLE, Ky. — School choice is on the ballot in Kentucky this November. 

Kentucky courts ruled last year that the use of tax dollars to support charter schools violates the constitution. As a result, Kentucky lawmakers proposed the constitutional amendment.

What You Need To Know

  • Americans for Prosperity Kentucky held a community discussion about the Amendment Two ballot measure

  • Jim Waters of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions moderated the conversation

  • Waters says school choice would benefit students and familes

  • Voters will decide on the measure on Election Day

Americans for Prosperity Kentucky held a community discussion about the Amendment Two ballot measure and shared why they say it will benefit students.

Jim Water’s moderated panel discussion with Americans for Prospertiy, a libertarian-leaning organization, on Amendment Two, which allows Kentuckians to decide whether some public funds can go to nonpublic schools. 

“What Amendment Two simply does is clear the way and remove the legal barriers for lawmakers to come back and deliberate and decide what school choice policies, if any, Kentucky should have,” said Waters, President of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a free market think tank.

Waters said people should support the amendment because he said providing parents with options has improved public education in nearby states and it will allow children to go to a school that works best for them. 

“So we still have these wide gaps between black and white students. We have a widening gap between haves and have nots. So, when we look around the country, what we’ve seen has worked is giving parents the opportunities to choose a school that works best for their child,” he said.

The Beshear administration has spoken out against the constitutional amendment saying public dollars shouldn’t go to private schools.

“I’m working on not just defeating Amendment Two, but holding the people accountable who voted for it. That’s something I think we’ve been missing, is we are voting down these amendments that we don’t want and we’re sending the same people that voted for them back to Frankfort,” said Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman D-Ky.

Waters said the money isn’t being diverted from public schools but just being used in a different way. 

“Education dollars do not belong to the schools, they do not belong to the system, they don’t belong to the school board, they don’t belong to the superintendents. Those dollars belong to the taxpayers and they are for the purpose of educating students,” said Waters.

Voters will be faced with the question on Election Day less than 90 days away.

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