Believe it or not, HB 1 isn’t the worst school choice idea out there | Opinion
Look, House Bill 1 is going to be made into law. The measure — which would enroll Kentucky in a program to provide federal income tax breaks for donations to private or public education — is being fast-tracked without much chance for public discussion.
But hear me out, it could have a commonsense and (possibly very funny) outcome.
I have made my position on vouchers, school choice, and the like very clear. Put simply, they are nothing but a grift to destroy public education, a long-held goal of right-wing America. I’ve argued this here, here, here, here, and here.
But instead of boring you with more of the same, here’s why I’m not particularly bothered by House Bill 1. Put simply, it would enroll Kentucky in a federal program that’s part of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that allows individuals to write off up to $1,700 donations to scholarship-granting organizations from federal income taxes. Those SGOs would then help children whose family income is below 300% of their area median income with educational resources, like fees, books, supplies, equipment, or tutoring.
So it doesn’t take money away from Kentucky public schools, which has always been the biggest concern. Instead, that money could be used by organizations to give scholarships and/or aid to private OR public schools. So anyone who wanted to could take the deduction, but instead of using an organization that provides scholarships to Catholic schools, to use one example, they could find one that gives the money to help public school students instead for books or tutoring instead.
Here’s how it’s all gone down:
In 2022, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the Education Opportunity Account Act — which would have allowed people to get state tax credits for donating to organizations, called scholarship granting organizations or SGOs, that then give scholarships to private schools. This meant sending state tax dollars to private schools, which is unambiguously against the Kentucky Constitution, hence the unanimous decision.
That led the General Assembly supermajority to come up with Amendment 2, which would have changed the Constitution to allow public dollars to flow to nonpublic schools.
This time, the Kentucky electorate was also unambiguous, rejecting the ballot measure in every county in the state. Hey, people love their public schools in every pocket of this great commonwealth.
Then just last week, the state Supreme Court again ruled unanimously against a 2022 bill to establish a charter school system across the state. Again, the unanimous decision was because the Constitution is so clear.
A few days later, the House emerged with House Bill 1.
Yes, it’s extremely cynical that House Republicans pulled out a voucher bill directly after the Supreme Court, but after so many courtroom defeats on the issue, they may have realized this is the best they’re going to get.
Now this is largely hypothetical because we don’t know what the fine print of the federal regulations will say about non-profit SGOs, or scholarship granting organizations that would get this money.
But let’s say our public educational cooperatives or other educational nonprofits, such as the Fayette County Education Foundation, set up their own SGOs, which could use the money for resources for students in public schools. If enough people used the write-off, it could help public schools, which is not at all its purpose.
Let me reiterate that I believe Kentucky’s public schools are one of our highest public goods, they should be fully funded, and not have to constantly fight off threats from the people who should be supporting them, rather than using “school choice” ideology to bring them down.
But in the broader war, this battle is a lower threat level than most. The Kentucky GOP can crow about a shallow victory and public school advocates can save their strength for the next skirmishes that will no doubt appear down the line.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 12:27 PM.
