FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate on Friday joined the House in passing legislation for a constitutional amendment — called a “game changer” by one Republican supporter — that would allow public dollars to fund nonpublic schools.

In a vote of 27-8, senators approved House Bill 2. Eastern Kentucky Republican Sens. Brandon Storm and Phillip Wheeler joined six of the seven Senate Democrats in opposing the bill. Democrat Robin Webb did not cast a vote, nor did Republicans Jared Carpenter and Brandon Smith.

Because the bill would amend the Kentucky Constitution, voters will decide the proposal’s fate in November. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has , will not be officially weighing in because constitutional amendments are not subject to gubernatorial veto.

The Senate Education Committee chairman, Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said the bill could pave the way to offering “school choice” to Kentuckians. During the House’s debate, Speaker David Osborne admonished members for speaking about possible future legislation stemming from the amendment, rather than the bill before them.

West said the constitutional amendment is an attempt to “modernize” the state’s education system.

“This is a game changer,” West said. “This will dictate where we are 25 years from now.”

The bill’s primary sponsor, House Republican Caucus Chair Suzanne Miles, of Owensboro, has said the bill would “let the voters decide” if the General Assembly should have the option of funding education outside the “system of common schools,” an option not allowed by the Constitution adopted in 1891.

In the Senate, Republican leaders backed the bill. Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, of Greensburg, argued that it’s not new for public dollars to go to private entities. He pointed to contractors who build roads.

“If I had the list of vendors for which we send public funds to private entities, I can certainly more than fill my 10 minutes, Mr. President, reading that list of vendors,” Givens said.

Majority Floor Leader Sen. Damon Thayer, of Georgetown, urged Democrats to visit blue cities across the country in states like New York and California.

“The minority party and the education establishment here in Kentucky continue to protect the status quo despite the shift that is happening nationwide in blue cities and blue states in favor of more and more ‘school choice,’” Thayer said.

Like their House counterparts, Senate Democrats raised concerns about the bill being fast-tracked through the General Assembly this week. Democratic Caucus Chair Reggie Thomas, of Lexington, called it a “flawed approach” to doing the public’s business on a bill of such importance. The Senate Education Committee forwarded the bill in . The House gave its approval Wednesday despite .

West pushed back on Thomas’ point, saying the bill is two-pages long and has been made public since January.

Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, admonished the proposed amendment for “notwithstanding,” or suspending, seven sections of the 1891 Constitution.

“I worry Mr. President, that we are so desperate to pass this amendment and give money to private schools to take it away from our public schools that we are risking shredding the Kentucky Constitution to make that happen,” she said.

Kentucky’s Constitution strictly bars using tax dollars to fund any but the state’s “common schools” (or public schools), and courts citing the Constitution have struck down legislative attempts to steer tax dollars into private or charter schools.

Courts have struck down the General Assembly’s charter school legislation. In December, wrote that charter schools are “private entities” that do not meet the Kentucky Constitution’s definition of “public schools” or “common schools.”

The unanimously struck down a Kentucky law in December 2022 creating a generous tax credit to help families pay for tuition at private schools. , which upheld a circuit court ruling by Shepherd, cited a long line of precedent reinforcing the Kentucky Constitution’s ban on the state financially supporting private schools.

Democratic Floor Leader Sen. Gerald Neal, of Louisville, said Kentucky’s existing public schools are already “simply underfunded” and should be prioritized. The General Assembly has yet to finalize the next two-year state budget.

“I think we have the capacity to do it,” Neal said. “The question is, do we have the will? Do we have the commitment? Do we have the wisdom to do it?”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on and .

LINCOLN — The next front in Nebraska’s school choice fight could shift toward a proposal by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair under which the state would deposit $1,500 a year per student into a new type of state-managed savings account for parents and guardians of students attending private K-12 schools.

Using the language of national school choice advocates, Hansen said his goal is to “fund students, not systems.” He said he has seen other states such as Iowa and Arizona use similar plans to subsidize private school costs.

“Parents are the primary educators of their children, not the government,” he told the Legislature’s Education Committee on Tuesday. “Our role should assist parents in that job.”

would let people use the funds for private school tuition, textbooks, school supplies, therapies, books and academic materials approved by the Nebraska Board of Education. The new educational savings accounts for approved or accredited private K-12 schools would begin in the 2025-26 school year.

The accounts would be overseen by the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office. But the accounts would offer no tax advantages like the tax-free 529 college savings plans the Treasurer’s Office currently oversees. Instead, under LB 1386, these accounts would act as pass-throughs for state appropriations into a school choice fund that would be created, invested and managed by the state.

One Fremont-area father testified about his difficulties getting a public school to accept his option-enrollment daughter with moderate hearing loss, because she had an individualized education program, or IEP. He and others said the voucher program would make it easier for them to afford private school.

Opponents testified that they wanted public dollars spent on public schools.

Critics point to constitution

The fiscal note said if 80% of Nebraska’s 33,611 private school students applied for the fund it could cost the state $40 million.

The note also estimated the State Treasurer’s Office would need $300,000 to administer the accounts. That includes the costs of an auditor to make sure the funds are properly spent.

Critics of the voucher push said the plan would violate the Nebraska Constitution’s Article VII, Section 11, which says, “No appropriation or grant of public funds or property shall be made to any educational institution which is not owned and controlled by the state or a governmental subdivision thereof.”

Royers said private schools would receive public money, an issue opponents raised last year about the new Opportunity Scholarship Act.

Hansen, reached after the hearing, disagreed. He and State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that state funds can be used this way three times. He explained the Nebraska workaround: The state will be giving state tax dollars to parents and not to private schools, he said.

He said he proposed starting with $1,500 a year because that’s how much state lawmakers funded last year as a baseline level of state aid per public school student. Iowa last session expanded its student savings account for private school students to the full cost of state aid per K-12 student, $7,598 a year.

Royers said other states starting similar voucher programs have learned that the programs largely help offset the costs of students already attending private schools. He said they don’t often create a large influx of new students from public schools who couldn’t otherwise afford to attend. Private school students in Iowa and elsewhere often see large increases in private school tuition rates once state support increases, he said.

And the funding lost to public schools leaves public school students and districts in worse shape, Royers said.

“We should be learning from the mistakes coming out of other states…,” Royers said. “This does not help needy families. It helps private schools.”

Wayne questions Royers

State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, a school choice advocate, asked Royers why it was OK for the state to subsidize private preschool education and private higher education but not K-12.

“Is there something special about those years?” he asked, after Royers did not answer the first few times he asked.

A representative of the Holland Children’s Movement shared data from its 2023 poll indicating more than 60% of Nebraskans opposed subsidizing private schools with public funding.

Linehan and Education Committee Chairman Dave Murman said they had seen polling that found the opposite, indicating broad statewide support for school choice programs.

“It depends on how you ask the question,” Linehan said.

Hansen expects the bill to reach the legislative floor this session. Bill opponents, including the NSEA, say they will be ready.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on and .