LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was a "holy miracle," as Tod Moore described it, that led him to found the Dream Center Academy Christian School in west Louisville.
“Because I was part of the problem, Christ showed me I had to be part of the solution, so here we are," Moore said.
Moore spent more than 26 years in prison for murder before he was released in 2018. A year later, former Gov. Matt Bevin granted him a full pardon.
Today, Moore’s private Christian school in the city’s Chickasaw neighborhood teaches close to 40 children from the West End. He said his dream is to eventually have a campus in each West End neighborhood.
“A lot of them do not have school choice; they do not have educational excellence," Moore said. "They are passed over at the schools they are currently in."
Families pay what they can to send their children while donors cover the rest of the tuition bill.
Moore said he supports Amendment 2, a ballot measure that asks Kentucky voters if they support amending the state constitution to allow state funding to go toward private education. He added he thinks it would help children like those enrolled at his school.
“All of our children here come from marginalized communities, every last one of them," Moore said. "Their families do not have economic success."
The Louisville native said he thinks school choice gives families more opportunities for educational success, especially in places like the West End, home to some of the city's poorest ZIP codes.
But not everyone feels the same, including Lyndon Pryor, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League.
“This is something that is going to rob public schools of the state from more absolutely necessary funding and is just going to harm those kids remaining in public schools,” Pryor said.
Pryor said he believes this measure will primarily benefit families already enrolled in private education, adding calling it a "school choice measure" is deceiving.
“The reality is that for the overwhelming majority of students, they will not have any more choice should this bill pass then they have currently,” Pryor said.
Places like Dream Center focused on West End students are not the norm for a majority of the state's private schools, Pryor added.
“When we are implementing policy that is going to affect everyone and that is going to have wide-ranging impact, then I think we have to make a consideration for what happens en masse and not the anecdotal story,” he said.
Regardless of how November's election results turn out, Dream Center will continue its expansion in west Louisville and plans to open its second location in the Russell neighborhood next year.
Kentuckians will see two constitutional amendments on the ballot when they go to vote this year.
Amendment 1 centers on barring non-citizens from voting in Kentucky elections, something that has not happened in the state.
Amendment 2 will ask voters if “The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools.” The proposal seeks to amend seven sections of the Kentucky Constitution.
State lawmakers passed the Amendment 2 bill earlier this year. In the State House, a handful of Republicans representing rural parts of the state voted against the measure, joining Democrats in opposition of the bill.