Who’s funding the Amendment 2 fight? Eight groups fueling the $16M-plus campaign
READ MORE
Herald-Leader election previews
Check out all of the Herald-Leader election preview stories that have published so far.
Expand All
The fight over Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that would change the state constitution to allow public funding to go to private K-12 schools, has grown incredibly expensive as Election Day nears.
Groups supporting or opposing the amendment have raised at least $16.7 million for their efforts as of this week.
The list of politicians and powerful organizations funneling money to their causes is long: U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-KY; Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear; the National Education Association; the Koch Brothers’ signature political organization; a group founded by former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; political “dark money” groups and more.
Both in corralling the donations and courting voters over the airwaves, the amendment fight has become something of a proxy battle between Beshear and Paul.
Paul and his wife, Kelley, star in an ad from Protect Freedom PAC stating the amendment would “give parents a voice in their child’s education.” Beshear also headlines an ad from Kentuckians For Public Education, an anti-amendment PAC, urging Kentuckians to vote no; Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman has joined him in shooting one for the Kentucky Democratic Party and campaigning across the state.
They’ve also got friends with deep pockets.
Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire hedge fund manager, recently pumped $5 million into Protect Freedom PAC, the primary group airing television commercials supporting the amendment this election cycle. Yass and Paul are close political allies, as Yass regularly contributes to Paul and political causes he supports, and that includes the 2023 gubernatorial campaign of former GOP attorney general Daniel Cameron.
Because the PAC, which has strong ties to Paul, contributes to races across the country, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how much the group has spent on the ballot measure.
Beshear, meanwhile, has been raising money into his own PAC, In This Together, and a so-called “dark money” nonprofit group whose donors can’t be tracked. Both of these groups, though not on the scale of Yass, have chipped in a collective $850,000 to support the main political organization fighting against Amendment 2.
Much of the money fueling Beshear’s PAC comes from the donor base he built up in his three previous statewide campaigns. Well over half of the contributors to the PAC have Kentucky addresses, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
But the big raiser and spender in the fight against Amendment 2 is Protect Our Schools, whose primary funder is the National Education Association, a teachers’ organization that is the largest labor union in the country. The NEA has given Protect Our Schools almost $5.7 million of its roughly $7.1 million raised.
Here’s a breakdown on the groups that have reported raising more than $10,000 to support or defeat the amendment. State-level numbers are as of Oct. 24, and federal figures run through September:
Pro-Amendment 2 groups
Empower Kentucky Parents
How much they’ve raised: $1.25 million. $1 million from the American Federation for Children (founded by Betsy DeVos) and $250,000 from the National Alliance For Public Charter Schools.
Who they are: Empower Kentucky Parents has run mostly digital ads highlighting current GOP presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump’s support for policies under the banner of “school choice.” It’s largely funded by dark money groups in the sector. Its treasurer is OJ Oleka, a former GOP candidate for state treasurer.
Kentucky Students First
How much they’ve raised: Just over $2.5 million, with more than $1 million coming from dark money group Kentucky Education Freedom Fund, which is run by the CEO of EdChoice Kentucky, Charles Leis. Other large donations come from Northern Kentucky businessmen like William Yung of Columbia Sussex’s $500,000 contribution; American Federation for Children also contributed $75,000, and Louisville-based dark money group Kentuckians for Progress chipped in $100,000.
Who they are: Kentucky Students First is the state-based PAC that’s brought in the most money to persuade voters of Amendment 2’s merits. While others have aired television ads, their focus has been on digital and mail advertising. The group has the same treasurer as Protect Freedom PAC
Americans For Prosperity Kentucky
How much they’ve raised: $328,000, all from the national Americans for Prosperity organization.
Who they are: Americans For Prosperity is a Libertarian-leaning conservative organization linked to entrepreneur brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. The group was instrumental in backing the Tea Party, an anti-tax and anti-regulation movement in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Conservatives for the Commonwealth Action
How much they’ve raised: $98,4000, mostly from a related dark money group.
Who they are: Conservatives for the Commonwealth Action turned heads with a mailer bashing rural public school districts by highlighting excerpts from three books the super PAC characterizes as too lewd to be stocked in the school library, including an author’s memoir of surviving rape. It cited them as examples of “the radical left” wanting “to control your kids.”
Protect Freedom PAC
How much they’ve raised: Several million dollars on nationwide initiatives, but the group has spent at least $4.4 million on television ads supporting Amendment 2. The PAC is buoyed by Yass, the billionaire Pennsylvania hedge fund manager and backer of school choice initiatives elsewhere in the country.
Who they are: Protect Freedom PAC is closely tied to Paul, and it has been flexing its muscle in Kentucky of late. The group came to the defense of Cameron in 2023, spending more than $2 million supporting him. Its ads have been the primary vehicle for the pro-Amendment 2 message over television.
Anti-Amendment 2 groups
Protect Our Schools KY
How much they’ve raised: almost $7.1 million, with the National Education Association dropping almost $5.7 million.
Who they are: The most prominent anti-Amendment 2 group in the state. Protect Our Schools has run several television advertisements highlighting opposition to the amendment across the state. It’s also held multiple in-person events and press conferences throughout Kentucky, highlighting the voices of educators themselves.
Kentuckians for Public Education
How much they’ve raised: almost $1 million, with $850,000 coming from groups directly linked to Beshear.
Who they are: Led by Beshear’s top political advisor, Eric Hyers, the PAC has been the primary vehicle for the governor’s opposition to the amendment. The group hopes to parlay some of the governor’s political success — he won reelection by five percentage points — into a victory for the amendment.
America Votes Kentucky
How much they’ve raised: $600,000, all from the national branch of America Votes, a national progressive dark money group.
Who they are: Branding itself as “the coordination hub of the progressive community,” America Votes is a dark money group that has ties to the current Democratic presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
