School choice among issues in 2024 ballot referendums in three states

Three states — Nebraska, Kentucky and Colorado — will have ballot measures related to school choice before voters on Nov. 5.

Nebraska voters will be asked whether they want to keep their state’s existing program, while voters in Kentucky and Colorado will be asked if they want to implement or enhance such programs.

Critics of school choice programs have argued that such programs unfairly strip funds from public schools, while supporters say they help parents select the school that best fits their child’s needs.

National polling from Morning Consult in September shows more support for some choice-based education policies including vouchers or education savings accounts, and that Republican or Republican-leaning voters are more likely to support school choice programs. The Republican Party’s 2024 platform called for universal school choice in every state.

But the same polling also showed that low-income and rural voters are skeptical of such policies.

Kentucky

Kentucky voters will consider Amendment 2, which asks voters whether they wish to amend their commonwealth’s constitution to allow the use of public funds for educational costs for K-12 students outside the public school system.

The current language in the Kentucky Constitution states that taxpayer money can fund only “common schools,” which state courts have interpreted to mean public schools. Kentucky is one of a small number of states that legalized charter schools — generally publicly-funded but independently-run schools — but it does not fund them. Amendment 2’s passage could change that, its proponents say.

Jason Hall, executive director of the Kentucky Catholic Conference, told OSV News the amendment’s passage could help “provide Catholic education as an option for families where that was a good fit for them, who currently could not afford it financially,” but stressed that they broadly support policies to expand parental choices in education.

“Parents are the primary educators of their children,” he said, adding, “We affirm both that the state has the obligation to provide education to every child and that it should do so by, in part, empowering parents to make decisions about directing the education of their children.”

Asked about the argument that such a program could strip funds from public schools, Hall said, “We reject the premise that any school choice program must inevitably come from public education funding.”

“We want to prioritize education funding,” he said, adding, “We want to pursue additional programs that provide parents and families choices without reducing public education funding. And we don’t think that that’s a false choice.”

Colorado

In Colorado, voters will consider Amendment 80, which would establish a “right to school choice” in the state constitution. The amendment defines choice as “neighborhood, charter, and private schools; home schooling; open enrollment options; and future innovations in education.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado urged its supporters to reject the measure on its 2024 ballot guide.

That guide argued school choice already exists in Colorado as parents in the state “already have the right to send their children to any public, charter, private, or home school they want.”

Amendment 80, it argued, would lead to the creation of a voucher program that would “use public taxpayer dollars to bankroll and fund private schools.”

“They divert critical resources from already underfunded public schools and funnel them to private schools that discriminate against students and families and do not have to meet state education standards or serve all students,” it said.

Yes on Amendment 80, an initiative supporting the measure funded by the super PAC Colorado Dawn, argued in an ad campaign that “our education system needs different options to ensure all kids reach their full potential.”

In an Oct. 21 article for Denver Catholic, Shawn Peterson, president of Catholic Education Partners, argued that voting in favor of the amendment would “support a fundamental Catholic teaching that parental choice is just and supports the common good.”

“If Amendment 80 passes, it will enshrine in the State Constitution the principle that all children have the right to equal opportunity to access quality education, that parents have the right to direct the education of their children, that school choice includes neighborhood, charter, private and home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education and that each K-12 child has the right to school choice,” he said.

Nebraska

Nebraska will consider Referendum 435, which will ask voters whether they want to uphold or repeal the state’s Bill 1402, which allocated $10 million in public funds for low-income students or students with special needs to attend non-public schools.

The Nebraska Catholic Conference criticized the ballot measure back in September as “the teachers union’s attempt to steal school choice out of the hands of low-income children.”

An August poll of that contest by Survey USA found 35 percent of registered voters in the state wanted to repeal the bill, while 26 percent said they support it, with another 39 percent undecided.

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