What now for education after Kentuckians reject GOP's 'school choice' amendment?
After Kentucky voters thwarted a Republican-backed “school choice” amendment, the legislature’s supermajority will likely focus on holding “poorly performing school systems” accountable, said Republican Senate President Robert Stivers.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, meanwhile, said the amendment’s landslide defeat is a message from Kentuckians to pump more resources into public schools; Beshear repeated his calls for raising teacher pay and providing universal preschool. The General Assembly should “recognize the will of the people and get serious about ensuring that every Kentucky child gets a world-class public education,” Beshear said.
In a news conference the morning after the election, Stivers singled out public schools in Louisville’s West End and “an African American population that’s been left behind” as the motivation for putting Amendment 2 on the ballot — “not as people were saying” to give “rich people” tax credits. “It was to focus on the poorest and the most needy, like the West End, to create a different type of educational opportunity, to give them a better economic trajectory.”
Almost 65% of Kentucky voters rejected the amendment, which failed in all 120 counties, according to unofficial results. Opponents had warned that public schools would be drained of funding if Kentucky followed the lead of some Republican legislatures and governors by funding vouchers to pay for private school tuition. The amendment would have allowed the legislature for the first time to fund nonpublic schools.
https://kentuckylantern.com/2024/11/08/what-now-for-education-after-kentuckians-reject-gops-school-choice-amendment/