The 2024 elections include a raft of ballot measures across every state. Voters will be asked to mark their preference on controversial topics such as abortion, school choice, the legalization of drugs, and much more. This Washington Examiner series, Direct Democracy, will take a forensic look at several of these items. Part 1 was on the abortion measures in 10 states. Part 2 was on the minimum wage measures in four states. Part 3 is on the school choice measures in three states.
Voters in three states will vote this election on referendums on school choice, a proposition that has gained political relevance in recent years thanks to a movement of parents disaffected by pandemic shutdowns and controversies over race and gender.
Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska are all holding referendums on different aspects of school choice. Colorado’s Amendment 80 would provide in the state constitution that “each K-12 child has the right to school choice.” Kentucky’s Amendment 2 would allow the legislature to provide state funding to students outside of public schools. A veto referendum in Nebraska would overturn legislation authorizing a program to provide public grants to eligible students to attend private schools.
School choice entails giving parents options besides traditional public schools for their children’s education. It involves permitting charter schools, providing vouchers or other forms of funding for parents to send children to private schools, or aiding parents in homeschooling their children.
The school choice movement has seen a series of major victories in recent years.
In 2021m West Virginia became the first state to adopt a universal, publicly funded school choice policy. The following year it was joined by Arizona, then Iowa and Utah the year after.
Here is all you need to know about the November ballot initiatives:
Colorado
The Colorado amendment is perhaps the most explicit school choice initiative, establishing a right to school choice for all children in the state.
The ballot asks voters: “Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution establishing the right to school choice for children in kindergarten through 12th grade, and, in connection therewith, declaring that school choice includes neighborhood, charter, and private schools; homeschooling; open enrollment options; and future innovations in education?”
To be ratified, the amendment requires a 55% supermajority.
Funding is heavily one-sided in favor of those opposing. The super PAC registered to support the initiative, School Choice for Every Child, hasn’t reported any financial activity, according to Ballotpedia. In contrast, Public Schools Strong, the Super PAC registered to oppose the initiative, reported a total of $3,788,747.21 in contributions.
No substantial polling has been conducted around support for the amendment.
A large group of mostly Republican lawmakers support the initiative, while the primary opponents are school groups and unions.
Rob Lowe, president and CEO of Ed Choice, explained his support for school choice to the Washington Examiner, not touching on any particular ballot initiative.
“The biggest mistake in America that we made was linking the concept of public education with state and district-run schools,” he said. “We want [children] to be educated in our great charter schools, our great private schools, our great public schools. … The challenge here is we don’t want to support a system — a one-size-fits-all — status quo that doesn’t serve all kids.”
Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association, warned that the amendment could cause “tremendous damage to already fragile school funding,” masked under the “innocuous word of ‘choice.’”
Kentucky
In Kentucky, school choice proponents are aiming to add language to the state constitution that would allow the provision of state funds to nonpublic education. The new language would read, “The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools.”
Kentucky Amendment 2 has already passed through the Kentucky House and Senate with 66.3% and 71% of the vote, respectively — it needed 60% to pass. The amendment must now be approved by a simple majority through the ballot initiative. No substantial polling has been carried out to measure support, but the overwhelming approval from the legislature suggests a likely popular vote in favor.
As with the other initiatives, funding is heavily lopsided against the initiative. Kentucky Students First, the campaign in favor, reported a total of $2,525,525 in contributions. Protect Our Schools KY, the campaign against, reported a total of $7,061,517.48 in contributions.
Tom Shelton, executive secretary for the Council for Better Education and the Executive Committee chairman for Protect Our Schools KY, told the Washington Examiner that he believes vouchers are a way of hurting public education by taking away funding.
“No matter what you call it — some states call them education savings accounts, some call them scholarship accounts, tax credits. No matter what you call them, a voucher, by definition, is giving a form of payment to be used in a different way, and so that’s taking funds away from our public schools, which again, are woefully underfunded,” he said. “So it’s purely a question of funding for us, that’s a reason we oppose it.”
Shelton took issue with portraying the issue as one of “school choice,” arguing that Kentucky already has school choice, given the presence of all types of different schools. His organization takes issue with the diversion of public school funds to these other schools.
“We support school choice; we just don’t want to take public funds to pay for it,” he said.
A supporter of the amendment, GOP state Sen. Damon Thayer, portrayed opposition to the bill as an unpopular and losing position, bound to be swept away by the string of recent victories, the Kentucky Lantern reported.
“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,’” he said.
Nebraska
Nebraska ballots feature the only initiative that has those opposing school choice going on the offensive — it would repeal a bill enacted by the Nebraska legislature in 2024 that provides $10 million annually to “fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska.”
Once again, the side against school choice has a major funding advantage. The campaign in support of the veto referendum, Support Our Schools, reported $3,257,272.17 in contributions. The group opposed to the repeal, Keep Kids First, reported $1,508,037.44 in contributions.
A Midwest Newsroom-Emerson College poll found that 60% of Nebraskans oppose school voucher programs. Only a simple majority is required for the ballot initiative to pass.
Nebraska State Education Association President Jenni Benson said that the bill, LB 1402, was passed unethically, with the intention of disallowing citizens from voting on the matter. She described the school choice initiative as a “costly new voucher scheme on taxpayers,” and cited the huge amount of signatures on the ballot petition as evidence of the popularity of repealing the bill, Ballotpedia reported.
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GOP state Sen. Dave Murman defended the LB1402, saying that it was “amongst the humblest and most meager” school choice programs in the country.
“Others have argued LB 1402 defunds public schools. Those who make this claim either haven’t done the math or simply know they are lying,” Murman said in a May 13 argument, contrasting the $1.6 billion in public school funding during his time as Education Committee Chair with the $10 million cost of LB 1402.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
