What does Amendment 2 really say? Here’s a summary of the controversial school measure

Kentuckians heading to the polls this year will have two opportunities to weigh in on proposed changes to the commonwealth’s constitution.

The first ballot question, Amendment 1, would make it illegal for those who are not U.S. citizens to vote, although that is not currently allowed anywhere in Kentucky.

The second question, Amendment 2, has proven to be more prominent, controversial and expensive. Often called the “school choice” amendment, the measure, if passed, would allow lawmakers to fund private and charter schools.

Supporters of Amendment 2 say it will expand educational opportunities for Kentucky students and allow parents to choose what’s best for their children, while opponents argue it would divert much-needed money from Kentucky’s public school systems. leading to reductions in teachers and staff, while subsidizing. wealthier families who already pay for private school.

Below are the details of the proposed amendment.

What is the question that will appear on the ballot in Kentucky?

The full text of the voting question is as follows:

To provide parents with choices in educational opportunities for their children, you support allowing the General Assembly to provide financial support for the educational costs of students in grades K-12 who are outside the common (public) school system. amending the Constitution? of Kentucky as listed below?

IT IS PROPOSED THAT A NEW SECTION BE ADDED TO THE KENTUCKY CONSTITUTION TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

The General Assembly can provide financial support for the education of students outside the regime of common schools. The General Assembly can exercise this power by law, without prejudice to articles 59, 60, 171, 183, 184, 186 and 189 of this Constitution.

What does “however” mean?

The ballot question asks voters to give lawmakers authority to fund non-public schools, “notwithstanding” seven different sections of the Kentucky constitution, which was adopted in 1891.

These seven sections may contradict the addition to the constitution proposed in Amendment 2, so that “notwithstanding” these sections, an exception is created that takes precedence.

But what are these sections? The question lists them by number, but not by their full text on the ballot.

They are:

• Section 59: This says that the General Assembly is not allowed to pass “local or special acts” on a number of matters, including “to provide for the management of common schools”.

• Section 60: No law, except on a number of specific enumerated subjects, including “matters relating to the common schools,” may be “enacted to take effect with the approval of any authority other than the General Assembly, unless this Constitution expressly establishes the opposite”.

• Article 171: Taxes can only be “levied and collected only for public purposes”.

• Article 183: This requires the General Assembly to “provide an efficient system of common schools” throughout Kentucky.

• Article 184: Taxes shall not be “raised or raised for education” other than public schools “until the question of taxation shall be submitted to the legal electors, and a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be in favor of this taxation”.

• Article 186: All money in the school fund must be “used for the maintenance of the public schools of the Commonwealth, and for no other purpose.”

• Article 189: No money raised for educational purposes may be “appropriated or used by, or in aid of, any church, sectarian or denominational school.”

Why change the constitution?

Past attempts by the Legislature to pay for schools other than the commonwealth’s 171 school districts have been defeated in court.

In late 2022, the Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 2021 bill that would have created a privately funded, need-based assistance program to cover educational expenses for families who would have been compensated with tax credits The law also would have created a pilot program that would provide tuition assistance to help students attend non-public pre-K-12 schools in counties with more than 90,000 people.

The tax credit portion of the bill drew criticism for essentially funding private schools with public dollars indirectly through the tax credit system.

The court ruled that the tax credits violated section 184 of the Kentucky Constitution, finding that “the income tax credit raises money for nonpublic education and its characterization as a tax credit rather than a ‘an appropriation is not important’.

Last December, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd struck down a law that would have funded charter schools, writing that “charter schools” are not “public schools” or “common schools” as defined in the sections 183, 184 and 186 of the Kentucky Constitution.

If passed, what changes for Kentucky schools?

Immediately, nothing.

If the amendment is approved, nothing changes related to school funding per se.

What it does do, however, is allow lawmakers, starting in the 2025 General Assembly, to consider legislation to pay for other types of schools, such as charter, religious or private schools.

Exactly what the Republican-controlled legislature would do with that power is unclear.

House Bill 2, the legislation passed during the 2024 General Assembly to put Amendment 2 on the ballot, did not include any enabling legislation. At the time of the debate, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Suzanne Miles, R-Owensboro, said that legislation was “irrelevant” to the discussion at hand.