As Republican lawmakers accelerated action on the bill, the governor sounded ready to lead the charge to try to defeat it at the ballot box and offered feisty critiques that could turn into campaign themes.
When a reporter noted at Beshear's weekly news conference that he does not hold veto power over constitutional amendment bills, the governor quickly interjected: “But I can beat ’em.”
“Public dollars should only go to public schools, period,” Beshear said. “I’m against this constitutional amendment. And if they pass it, I will work every day to defeat it at the ballot box in November.”
Beshear's remarks came a day after the measure won House passage following a contentious debate. The bill was advanced by a Senate committee with solid GOP support Thursday, continuing its fast-track movement in the closing days of the legislative session. Both chambers have Republican supermajorities.
With no election for statewide office on Kentucky’s ballot in November, school choice looms as the most contentious state issue this fall if the proposed amendment reaches the ballot. It would allow Kentucky voters to decide the future of a divisive issue that has hung over the legislature for several years.
Beshear predicted the proposal would go down to defeat if it reaches the ballot.
“I think Kentuckians will overwhelmingly vote against public dollars going to private schools," he said. "Private schools are fine, but they are a choice. The way to fix public education is to fix public education ... to ensure we’re providing the funding that it needs.”
Beshear is a close ally of the Kentucky Education Association, a labor association representing tens of thousands of public school educators. The KEA will align with Beshear to fight back against the school choice proposal if it gains a ballot spot. Beshear won a convincing reelection victory last year in a state that otherwise has shifted heavily toward the GOP, and he has maintained high voter approval ratings.
If voters ratified the proposal, it would enable lawmakers to follow up with bills that could allow state money, for instance, to help fund enrollment at private or charter schools. Key supporters have avoided talking about specifics of any follow-up bills, saying their focus is getting the measure on the ballot.
“I’m hopeful that we can have that debate if this amendment passes in November of 2024. But the reality is, we’ve got lots of hypotheticals,” Republican state Rep. Suzanne Miles, the bill's lead sponsor, told the Senate Education Committee on Thursday before the panel advanced the measure.
Court decisions in Kentucky have ruled that public tax dollars must be spent on the state’s “common” schools — a reference to public schools — and cannot be diverted to charter or private schools.
At a school choice rally in January, a key GOP lawmaker pointed to overall lagging test scores for minority and economically disadvantaged students as a driving force behind the proposed amendment.
“I believe that is the reason we have so many parents who are frustrated with the situation they find themselves in, in public education, and they feel like they have no choice for their children,” House Education Committee Chairman James Tipton said. “Well, you deserve a choice. You deserve an opportunity to help your children succeed, and that’s what we intend to do.”
Miles said families lacking financial means are left without education options for their children.
“You want to talk about discrimination, it's about the economics of the parents out there and the children that do not have choices and the parents that don't have choices,” she said Thursday.
Opponents warn the ultimate outcome, if the school choice amendment wins voter approval, would be legislation to divert badly needed state money away from public schools to support private or charter schools.
Beshear picked up on that theme Thursday, saying: "At the end of the day, these are private corporations that really want to get their hands on a lot of money that should be going to public schools.”
The push for a constitutional amendment gained steam after the courts struck down school choice laws.
In 2022, Kentucky’s Supreme Court struck down a measure passed by GOP lawmakers to award tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition.
Last year, a circuit court judge rejected another measure to set up a funding method for charter schools. The decision stymied efforts to give such schools a foothold in the Bluegrass State.
