‘Dismayed.’ School choice bill sent to Kentucky governor despite strong opposition

Acting Fayette Superintendent Marlene Helm on Tuesday issued a strong statement before the House and Senate approved a bill in which private school tuition in Fayette and other counties could be paid from newly created education opportunity accounts.

“Quite honestly, I am dismayed that a bill of this magnitude has been brought forward this late in the session without thorough, public discussion with various stakeholders,” Helm said.

In addition to Fayette, Jefferson and Kenton counties, House Bill 563 now adds Boone, Hardin, Daviess, Warren and Campbell counties -- all with populations of 90,000 -- to those in which private school tuition amounts can be paid out of the scholarship funds.

The Kentucky Senate Appropriations and Revenue committee passed the bill 6-2. Later, the full Senate approved it with a 21-15 vote as did the House 48-47 in a marathon session Tuesday, the last day of the General Assembly before the veto recess. The bill will now be sent to the Governor for signing. Lawmakers will come back on March 29 and 30 to override any gubernatorial vetoes.

“This bill is dangerous. This bill is bad education policy. It’s bad fiscal policy. And its bad public policy. It does nothing to protect our students and their families or to assure that they receive a high quality education,” Kentucky Education Association President Eddie Campbell told the committee Tuesday.

The controversial school choice legislation requires each district in Kentucky to adopt a policy about accepting students who don’t live in the district so that kids could get benefits not offered in their own school district. If a district does not have the capacity to take on additional students, they would not have to. So that the bill won’t be used as an athletic recruiting tool, students who transfer to another district can’t play sports for a year.

The bill also calls for the creation of an education opportunity account program. In that, an individual or corporation applies to the state department of revenue for a tax credit indicating how much they are going to donate, its sponsor state Rep. Chad McCoy, R- Bardstown, told the committee. The donation then goes to an educational account granting authority. Once there, he said families who are “poor” can apply for a grant to pay for tuition for a public school, online classes, tutors and other services and private school tuition in certain counties.

Initially, the bill only allowed the families to apply for grants to public schools. But in the House, a floor amendment from Rep. Jerry Miller, R-Eastwood, modified the legislation so that education opportunity accounts pay private school tuition only in the larger Fayette, Jefferson and Kenton counties but not the rest of the state. The Senate budget committee expanded those counties Tuesday.

The bill would go into effect in 2022. McCoy has said the details of how the money follows the student from one school district to another have not been worked out so he’s asked the Kentucky Department of Education to help figure that out.

A provision for full day kindergarten funding was deleted by the committee for “constitutional reasons,” said state Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg. “We can’t have an appropriation and a revenue raising measure in the same legislation.”

Givens said the education opportunity account program is a five-year time limited pilot project. On the Senate floor, he said the bill was targeted toward families in need.

State Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, voted against the bill in the Senate saying it would not likely benefit rural schools.

KY public school leaders argue the choice program is bad

The bill sparked multiple concerns in Lexington.

“HB 563 includes provisions that create a monumental shift in educational policy and has the potential to have a profound impact on school funding. There has not been an adequate opportunity for Kentuckians to digest these proposed changes, let alone, make their voices heard,” Helm said.“The fact that HB 563 targets Fayette County for a change that our community has not sought is especially worrisome. The rushed nature of these proposals, without the voices of stakeholders who would be most impacted, disregard the effect HB 563 will have on communities across the state, especially our most vulnerable communities.”

“Given the proposed one-year budget includes an investment that would bring our state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ to more than $1 billion, it seems counterintuitive to direct public funds for private schools while reducing support for public education,” said Helm.

She said students in Fayette already have choice with the district not only targeting high achieving students, but also creating opportunities for historically under-served populations.

In voicing his opposition, Campbell said private schools will be charging for many of the services that their tuition already covers. The services are already provided by public schools for free under the law, he said.

Campbell said the bill prohibits oversight of the education service provider that will receive the donations to distribute to families. He said providers are not required to have credentials or background checks. He said the bill opens the door for discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and other fronts.

Anna Baumann, deputy director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, testified that resources will flow inequitably to larger communities and leave rural communities behind.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass said he was concerned with the bill on multiple fronts.

“It is being rushed through the legislative process with little effort at gaining input or correction of obvious flaws and predictable negative consequences which the current language contains,” Glass said after the full House vote. “This legislation is of potentially enormous consequence - which begs a more thorough approach to considering both the public school choice and tax credit aspects.”

Jim Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, said his group remains steadfast in their opposition to any privatization of public funds for education “--this bill provides that in the form of tax credits for education opportunity accounts.”

The policy proposal is a major change which will have far-reaching implications for public schools and the children they serve, he said.

“We are concerned that it is being rushed through the process without considering all the unintended consequences including: causing more segregation in schools; concentrating and isolating students of poverty; and widening the gap between the haves and have-nots,” said Flynn. “A change of this magnitude deserves transparency, sufficient public scrutiny, and input from stakeholders. “

Said Fayette board chair Tyler Murphy in a social media post: “HB 563 would amount to a taxpayer giveaway to unaccountable private schools and organizations, draining tens of millions of dollars in revenue from public education every year.”

However, EdChoice KY President Charles Leis said in response to the bill passing, “After years of advocating for common sense school choice programs, Kentucky families will soon have more education options than ever before, and we are excited to see what the future of educational opportunity will look like in the Commonwealth.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 3:40 PM.