From KEA: Public Schools are on the Ballot!
EDITOR'S NOTE: On Aug. 22, we posted a statement from KY 120 United AFT also opposing Amendment 2. We join KY 120 and KEA in opposing Amendment 2.
KENTUCKY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Election Day will be here in just 53 short days, and public education is on the ballot! As public-school educators, we must all work every day between now and November 5 to defeat proposed Constitutional Amendment 2.
If approved, Constitutional Amendment 2 to ”notwithstand” all seven sections of the Kentucky Constitution that currently require them to use public funds for public schools and to use your tax dollars to provide an efficient system of free common schools for the benefit of every Kentucky student. If Amendment 2 passes, public funding that should be dedicated to Kentucky’s public schools will be funneled to unaccountable private institutions.
Over 90% of school-age children in the state attend a local public school. Every day, Kentucky’s public schools welcome hundreds of thousands of children and offer all of them opportunities to succeed.
As you know, many of our local public schools are already seriously underfunded. Proposed Amendment 2 will only make that worse. As educators, we need to ensure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars continue to support our local public schools and educators, not be sent to unaccountable private institutions with no oversight or accountability to the public.
Although legislators have consistently refused to explain the policies they intend to enact if Constitutional Amendment 2 passes, if they follow Florida’s example and implement a similar voucher program, that will cost 30% of what Kentucky currently spends on public education.
KY Policy estimates that a voucher program will take $1.19 billion annually from the Kentucky state budget. That equals the cost of employing 9,869 Kentucky public school teachers and employees. Click here to see how your school district could be impacted if this harmful voucher amendment passes.
KEA, as part of a coalition of hundreds of public education advocacy groups, is working to defeat this harmful amendment, and we need your voice. Please visit protectourschoolsky.com to sign the pledge to “Vote NO on Constitutional Amendment 2” and learn how you can get involved to advocate for your local public school.
As educators, we need to use our educator voices in every single community across the commonwealth to encourage our colleagues, friends, neighbors, and communities to: