By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Section 184 of the Kentucky state constitution says “no sum shall be raised or collected for education other than in the common schools” without a vote of the electorate.
The Republican supermajority in the General Assembly twice tried to maneuver around that law to fund charter schools but lost both times in our state courts since 2021.
That led to the decision to take the matter directly to Kentucky voters as a proposed constitutional amendment this Nov. 5. Be aware that the passage of Amendment 2 could have catastrophic results for our public schools.
That’s because the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly is asking us to allow the diversion of public school funding to support charter or other private schools.
Before you read more, please be aware that current research shows that Kentucky families currently sending children to private, K-12 schools have an average annual income of nearly $150,000.
Also, among the 29 states that already have some form of vouchers for private schools, as much as 90 percent of those funds taken from public schools go directly to parents of students in private schools.
On the flipside of that coin are the families of public school students whose incomes, on average, are more than 50 percent lower than the private school parents average.
If the amendment passes and the state legislature reallocates money now going to public schools in the same proportion used by Florida, for example, it will take more than $1 billion from our state treasury to fund it.
Coincidentally, that much money alone would fund nearly 10,000 positions for public school teachers and staff members.
At a time when Kentucky has the largest budget surplus in its history, despite lowering the state income tax three times, why are we now faced with a decision of whether or not it is good public policy to rob Peter to pay Paul?
Clearly, Amendment 2 is a disaster about to happen and must be defeated.Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
