DCPS, OPS boards voice Amendment 2 concerns

Members of both the Owensboro and Daviess County boards of education were unanimous Thursday in voicing their concerns about Constitutional Amendment 2, the "school choice" initiative on the November ballot.

All city school board members, and the four county school board members in attendance at Thursday's joint meeting, said they had issues with Amendment 2, which would allow state lawmakers to direct public dollars toward private or religious schools.

The board members expressed a number of concerns, such as how public school funding would be affected and about giving broad authority to lawmakers to create a way to fund private schools with public money.

The joint meeting at Owensboro Public Schools began as an educational session from Josh Shoulta, director of communications for the Kentucky School Board Association.

The amendment asks voters if they support "enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education cost of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools" by amending the Constitution.

The amendment, if passed, would give lawmakers the authority to create a funding mechanism to use public dollars to cover private school tuition, and would exempt that mechanism from several sections of the constitution that prohibit using public dollars for religious schools, passing bills that target only certain areas of the state and collecting taxes for use in non-public areas.

"Since 2017, Kentucky has had laws on the books that allow charter schools," Shoulta said, but attempts to pay charter school tuition with public funds have been unsuccessful. The last attempt, in 2023, was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, Shoulta said.

The constitutional amendment doesn't specify how lawmakers would provide funding for private schools.

"Amendment 2 this year is somewhat unique" because there's no funding legislation attached, Shoulta said, and that the amendment "just says the legislature can do things it couldn't do before."

Kentucky has some school choice, in that lawmakers eased restrictions to allow students to attend public schools outside their county districts, Shoulta said. Other states do have more options; for example, 14 states allow vouchers to pay for private school tuition, Shoulta said.

Private schools are exempt from state education standards and are not required to serve all students, Shoulta said. Comparing public and private school academic performance can be difficult, because private schools are not required to share academic information, Shoulta said.

When students leave public schools to attend private schools under a voucher program, their state money goes with them. Public schools generally won't save money when students leave because, even though there are fewer students, school districts still have fixed costs, Shoulta said.

"There are all kinds of fixed costs that don't go away, but you have lost the per-pupil funding," Shoulta said.

The state School Board Association polled school districts and employees on the issue. In a recent survey, "96% (of respondents) indicated they are opposed to Amendment 2," Shoulta said.

James Morgan, DCPS board chairman, said he was concerned about how the constitutional amendment would impact rural school districts where there are no charter schools.

Morgan said he would prefer the state put more funding into teacher salaries and toward salaries for staff members such as bus drivers, which would boost hiring and retention.

Morgan said public schools are important to communities and that, in areas affected by recent natural disasters, "public schools have been the backbone of those communities, (in) getting them back on their feet."

County board member Frank Riney said he had concerns about the "open-ended" nature of the amendment, and that school districts are already struggling with unfunded or partially funded state mandates.

County board member Dale Steward said, "I'm totally for public education" and that people "need to think hard" about the amendment.

"I'm going to vote 'no' on Amendment 2," Stewart said.

County Board of Education member Todd Anderson said the public schools are held accountable through state regulations, and that public schools work to educate all students.

"Our public system is for all children," Anderson said. "It's not for a select few."

County board vice-chairman Dr. Tom Payne was unable to attend Thursday's meeting.

OPS board chairman Dr. Jeremy Luckett said, "philosophically, I would say I'm opposed to this" and that the state constitution should only be done "with reverence."

"I think it's too broad an authority," Luckett said, and that the provision of the amendment allowing bills to target only certain areas "could be dangerous, even outside the realm of education."

"There's also not an unlimited amount of money," Luckett said, and that, "if there's only one pie and you're going to give it to more people, there is going to be less to go around."

City board member Melissa Decker said, "I believe our public tax dollars should go to (support) our public school students," and that public schools were created in Kentucky to help underprivileged students who's families couldn't afford private education.

Board member Jeremy Edge said he was concerned about giving lawmakers the ability to create a funding plan for private schools.

School choice already exists in the state, in that parents can choose to send their children to religious schools now, Edge said.

"To frame (the amendment) as 'choice' is a little misleading," Edge said.

Cit board member Ashley Johnson said she would vote 'no' on the amendment.

"This amendment does not give details on how it would be funded," Johnson said, and that she was also concerned about how a school choice funding plan would be exempt from several sections of the constitution.

The state could end up using taxpayer dollars to fund schools that prevent some students from attending, Johnson said.

"I think it will discriminatory," Johnson said.

Leigh Rhoads Doyal, OPS board chairwoman said, without any funding legislation attached to the amendment, "state lawmakers have that free rein" to create a plan on their own.

Rhoads Doyal said she also had concerns about private schools turning away students.

"Educating the most vulnerable and voiceless has always been the privilege of public schools," Rhoads Doyal said.

But private schools are "not required" to accept all students, Rhoads Doyal said.

Public schools are held to state regulations in exchange for receiving public dollars, Rhoads Doyal said.

"With state money comes oversight," Rhoads Doyal said.

While regulations on public schools are "cumbersome, those are also layers of accountability," Rhoads Doyal said.