In Tuesday's election, Kentucky voters will decide whether to change the state constitution to open the door for school choice. Amendment 2 would allow the state legislature to use tax dollars on education outside of public schools.
It’s a tough sell in many rural districts that fear losing money while lacking access to private schools.
As head of a small school district in southern Kentucky, Kyle Estes prefers to be in the school hallways, but for the past several months, he’s been on a speaking circuit with fellow superintendents.
“My name is Kyle Estes and I’m the superintendent for Russellville Independent Schools. However, I’m here today as an advocate for public education," Estes said at a news conference in September.
Estes and leaders of other rural school districts are on a crusade against Amendment 2, which they call the voucher amendment. They worry whatever form of school choice lawmakers might adopt, including charter schools, tax credits, or private school vouchers, money would be taken from public schools.
"This is not a small change. It's a significant shift that could upend the educational system we've all built together for the 90% of Kentucky's children who attend public schools," said Tim Schlosser, superintendent of Simpson County Schools. "The stakes could not be any higher at this point."
According to a survey this fall among the state’s 171 school districts, only one reported being fully staffed. Russellville Superintendent Kyle Estes says districts are already underfunded and school choice could be devastating.
“About 80 percent of your funding mechanism goes to salaries. You have about 20% that goes to maintain, purchasing buses, paying electric bills, those things you have to do. You still have to have air and heat," Estes said. "There’s only so much you can cut out of that 20% of the pie. It jumps into the 80% component in the way of salaries and staffing pretty quick.”
An analysis by the left-leaning Kentucky Center for Economic Policy found that if Kentucky implements a Florida-scale voucher program, Russellville Independent Schools could face a 16% budget reduction and the loss of 21 teaching positions. Amendment 2 supporters say that estimate is exaggerated and other states that have adopted school choice haven’t reduced funding to public education. They also argue there’s a cost to Kentucky by graduating its future workforce that can’t read and write at proficient levels.
The Russellville Independent School District is in rural Logan County and has 1,100 students. Fifty-percent are minority and three out of four qualify for free or reduced lunch. In economically disadvantaged districts like this, Estes points out schools provide more than education. Students depend on food, clothing, medical, and mental health services.
"Being able to provide those wraparound services are critically important," said Estes. "That would be a potential issue if we start losing state dollars to other avenues.”
Corey Waters is a civics teacher at Russellville High School, home of the Panthers. Coincidentally, his lecture last week was on bills and amendments. Waters says he’s talked about Amendment 2 in the classroom.
“I always play devil’s advocate so they should never know my opinion in the classroom," said Waters. "They honestly didn’t have too much of an opinion on it.”
Those students are like some voters who say they’re still undecided on Amendment 2.
The ballot question reads:
"To give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children, are you in favor of enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools by amending the Constitution of Kentucky as stated below?
Voter education has been key in this campaign. One of the chief educators on the pro-Amendment 2 side has been U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. While he's not on the ballot, he’s still campaigning this election season.
“Are we ready for victory on Tuesday? Are we ready to take our schools back?," Paul asked before thunderous applause during a rally last week in Bowling Green.
Calling school choice the civil rights issue of our era, Sen. Paul is urging voters to bolster parental choice and increase competition, which he says would benefit both public and private schools. But more than half of the state's 120 counties have no certified public schools.
“Let’s say nothing changed and the only people that really did innovative educational changes were in the big cities, I’d still be for it, I wouldn’t be against it," Paul told WKU Public Radio. "Let’s say I live in a town of 5,000 people, I’d still be for it. It doesn’t mean I don’t care about the poor kids in Louisville where there’s a bunch of poor people and lots of private options."
Fifty-three percent of private schools in Kentucky are located in only three counties: Jefferson, Fayette, and Boone. Russellville Independent has one private school, but it operates out of a church and only serves pre-K through 1st grade students. Superintendent Kyle Estes says the next closest private school is more than 20 miles away in Bowling Green.
“If I am a disadvantaged family and I wanted to take advantage of a voucher system and send my child to Bowling Green, the question becomes how do I get them there," Estes said.
Sen. Paul says private schools aren't the only option and opening the door to school choice will allow more innovation.
“If your child has autism or cerebral palsy and you live in a town of 5,000, often the public school doesn’t have the resources for you either, and now you can hire extra help," suggested Paul. "What if your child is getting C's and D's, and you’re poor and qualify for vouchers, you can take your voucher money and hire a tutor. You might decide you couldn’t do homeschooling before, but now if you can buy computers for your kids, you might decide to do homeschooling.”
School choice has been debated for years in the commonwealth, but those efforts have been thwarted by legal challenges, prompting the Republican legislature to push the ballot measure to amend the state constitution.
Last month, the Russellville Independent School District followed the lead of the Kentucky Board of Education in adopting a resolution supporting public funds for public education.
"It's an agenda that's outside of this state, in my opinion," Estes said. "We've got groups that are pushing special interests, trying to lobby the state to do things they've done in other places to defund public education. That's really what it's about."
