Opinion: The claims in support of Amendment 2 are largely wishful thinking

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Monday, Oct. 28, 2024 — Starting later this week, Nelson County voters will go to the polls and will be asked to consider Constitutional Amendment 2 — known by supporters as the School Choice amendment.

The amendment basically strips away the constitutional barriers that protect Kentucky tax dollars that are slated to fund our public schools.

The many mailers I’ve received are full of claims that make the Amendment sound like something all Kentuckians should support.

The claims the pro-Amendment forces include:

— will increase teacher salaries
— improve student math and reading scores
— the fat cats are tax dollars
— will give more teachers per student
— strengthen our schools with real accountability
— poor and underperforming students will be lifted up to meet their potential.

I’m not sure what the pro-Amendment forces are basing these claims on — it sure is not the Amendment itself.

I’ve included a link to the sample Nelson County ballot, and you can read the text of the amendment.

The amendment, simply stated, removes the state constitutional barriers from giving tax money to private schools. You won’t find any of the claims in the amendment that appear in the pro-amendment mailers.

The truth is that the claims in the mailers are just that — claims, mostly based on wishful thinking.

Now I’m not a whiz at math, but I do understand subtraction. How will the Amendment achieve its claims of “protecting public school funding” when its designed to allow the General Assembly to siphon education tax dollars to private schools? How do you subtract what could be millions of dollars from public school funding and not reduce the tax dollars going to public schools? I was taught “new math” in grade school, but this sounds like “political math” to me.

When you read over the pro-Amendment mailers, just remember that there are no guarantees that the amendment will accomplish ANY of the claims you read. At best, the claims are “creative fiction,” at worst, they’re falsehoods designed to con Kentucky voters to hand the General Assembly a blank check.

If approved, it will be up to the Kentucky General Assembly to write the legislation that will define what school choice will look like in Kentucky and how it will be funded and implemented.

Why are the pro-Amendment (and anti-Amendment) people spending millions of dollars on TV, radio and social media advertising?

Money, plain and simple. One side wants to keep education dollars protected by the state constituion; the other side wants to remove those protections. There are billions of tax dollars at stake in this fight. More than one-third of the state’s budget goes to fund P-12 education.

Admittedly, there are more questions than answers about what school choice might look like in Kentucky, and how it will serve all students in Kentucky when 63 percent of Kentucky counties have no registered private school.

More than 50 percent of private schools are in three urban areas of Kentucky — Lexington, Louisville and northern Kentucky.

Both sides of this issue are passionate and are spending millions on their campaigns. Before you cast your vote, read Amendment 2 and consider the possible outcome if it is approved or voted down. No matter which way you plan to vote, its to your advantage to be informed before you go to the polls.

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