The Kentucky ballot offers school choice

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 17th of October.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up, using state funds…for private schools.

Next month, school choice is on the ballot in Kentucky. Amendment 2 would enable the state legislature to divert public money toward alternatives to the public school system, such as private schools or homeschool co-ops.

REICHARD: Some parents hail school choice as key to bring needed competition into education. Others aren’t so sure. WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher reports on the pros…and cons.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: It’s a noisy day in teacher Laura Smith’s 5th grade classroom. Today’s topic: geology. More specifically, rocks. And each student has been assigned to represent one of three different types.

LAURA SMITH: Igneous rocks, you are gonna make a line. Sedimentary rocks, you are gonna make a line, okay?

It may sound like controlled chaos. But it’s music to the ears of Josh LeSage, the head of Portland Christian School in Louisville, Kentucky. He’s proud of his private school’s Christ-centered education program…

JOSH LeSAGE: Jesus Christ is the center, Earth is temporary. Eternity lasts forever. All truth is God's truth. You're going to learn physics, you're going to…

But he admits it can be costly. The annual tuition for sending a child to Portland can be as high as $10,000, depending on the grade. And while the school gave away $1 million this year in tuition assistance to lower-income students, LeSage said it still had to turn away nearly 40 families.

LESAGE: It just breaks your heart. And most likely, they’re going back to a place that’s not first choice for mom and dad.

But he’s hoping a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November can help fix that. Constitutional Amendment 2—often called the school choice amendment—doesn’t actually create any school choice programs. It merely gives the state’s legislature the option to do so in the future.

D.J. JOHNSON: It simply allows the General Assembly to do its job.

Republican State Representative D.J. Johnson says Amendment 2 is necessary because of a Kentucky Supreme Court decision two years ago. That ruling struck down a plan to award tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition. He says a constitutional amendment is the only way to checkmate that move.

JOHNSON: The Supreme Court in Kentucky has basically ruled that the only funding for education must go to public schools. It does not allow us any consider, any consideration of any other options, any other possibilities.

But the amendment has its foes. Among them are Democratic Governor Andy Beshear and Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman. Coleman recently appeared in a campaign ad claiming the amendment would drain urgently needed tax dollars from public education.

JACQUELINE COLEMAN: Vote no on Amendment 2 to keep your tax dollars serving you and your community’s public schools.

Some of the other opposition comes from unlikely places.

Last week dozens of private and homeschool families met at the Warren County Public Library in Bowling Green to discuss the amendment. Many of them abandoned public schools because of current trends, particularly the incorporation of the LGBTQ agenda and gender ideology into the curriculum.

Andy Gamblin was one concerned citizen:

ANDY GAMBLIN: I’m gonna be honest with you—I’m in mourning. My heart is heavy for these young kids because the left is putting stuff in our schools that’s not right, and it’s up to us to take a stand!

But that evening’s main speaker was Robert Bortins. He is CEO of Classical Conversations, one of the largest global Christian homeschooling programs. He made the case that school choice programs do little more than drive up the cost of non-public education and create a new entitlement.

BORTINS: And so when you take the disease of public dollars and put them into private people's pockets, that disease follows them…because they get used to that entitlement, and they start relying on government instead of God.

He also worried that public funds could give state government a foot in the door to regulate curriculum in private or even homeschools, a concern some in the audience shared.

VELEZ: Freedom for private schooling in the state of Kentucky is at a risk for being, being taken away because we're talking about some money here!

But Representative Johnson, who was at the meeting, said Amendment 2 is about giving the state legislature the opportunity to help low-income students escape a failing public school system.

JOHNSON: Not every child in Kentucky has the option of being homeschooled. There are students that don’t have what you have. And as Christians, are we supposed to just ignore them?

Nick Spencer is the director of policy for The Family Foundation and a supporter of Amendment 2. He says any concern that it might lead to government interference is a red herring.

SPENCER: If the General Assembly wanted to increase regulations on private schools and home schools, they could technically do it without this school choice possibility. They could pass legislation right now that would increase control over private schools and home schools. They don't need Amendment 2 to pass in order to do that.

Kentucky voters will make their own choice in November when voters in Colorado and Nebraska will also face school choice ballot questions.

For now, the debate continues, while students in Mrs Smith’s class continue to rock on.

SMITH: Okay, sedimentary rocks I need you over here. Right here…

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher in Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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