Amendment 2 could have far darker consequences than school vouchers | Opinion

When I ran for a seat on the Frankfort Independent School board back in 2022, it was with a single question in mind. What if we all made public education our top priority? What would that look like?

After two years as a board member, it’s a question I’m still asking. Every single day.

My own children’s school years are long over. But at the time, mostly for the benefit of their grandparents, our kids went to parochial school. As non-parishioners, we paid full freight. When they got to high school, they attended an out-of-district school. Again, we paid tuition.

So I understand the appeal of school choice and the financial burden of exercising it. Every parent wants the best for their children, regardless of their family’s social or financial circumstances. And as a society, it’s what the rest of us should want, too.

Unfortunately in Kentucky, that hasn’t always been the case. Despite the best intentions of its more enlightened leaders, Kentucky’s public education history is littered with missed opportunities, misspent funds, and misled citizens. And the culprit in every instance was our legislature, except for the brief shining moment that produced the Kentucky Education Reform Act, now a faint shadow of its former self.

And now along comes Constitutional Amendment 2, on the ballot next week. The first paragraph is lovely language about choices, opportunities, and financial support. But keep reading and pay particular attention to the second paragraph which says “the General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools.” and that “the General Assembly may exercise this authority by law, Sections 59, 60, 171, 183, 184, 186, and 189 of this Constitution notwithstanding.”

In other words, upon passage of Amendment 2, the Kentucky General Assembly will be allowed to pass laws that willfully violate the aforementioned sections of the Kentucky Constitution. We’ll skip over Sections 59 and 60 to focus on the others:

▪ Section 171: Taxes [are] to be levied and collected for public purposes only and by general laws, and to be uniform within classes.

▪ Section 183: The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of schools throughout the State.

▪ Section 189: School money [is] not to be used for church, sectarian, or denominational school.

▪ Section 186: All funds accruing to the school fund must be used for the maintenance of the public schools of the Commonwealth, and for no other purpose.

▪ Section 184 (this one’s a little longer so I’ll paraphrase): Any sum which may be produced by taxation shall be appropriated to the common schools, and to no other purpose.

All of which begs the question – if Amendment 2 can render these sections of our Kentucky Constitution null for the purpose of spending public funds on education outside the public school system, then what is there to prevent the General Assembly from doing the same with other public appropriations?

Amending a constitution is serious business, especially when an amendment’s passage can set aside whole sections that govern the public expenditures. To add insult to injury, we haven’t been given so much as a hint of how the General Assembly would use its newfound power, only a demand for a blank check.

Consider the possibilities of:

▪ Your school taxes being siphoned off to support a private school at the other end of the state.

▪ Your school taxes supporting a religious school that answers to no one except its church, synagogue or mosque.

▪ Your school taxes subsidizing parents who homeschool their children with no accountability for performance.

▪ Your children’s school suffering because your local taxes have been reallocated to benefit children in other communities.

And in the meantime, the legislature will continue to impose ever more stifling legislation, including unfunded mandates, on public schools. Already underfunded schools would now be forced to compete for scarce resources – with entities that receive zero public scrutiny. Unless of course, there are plans to expand the education budget – an incredibly well-kept secret.

Before you vote on Amendment 2, please ask yourself a question: What if we all made public education our top priority? What would that look like?

Will it be a capricious, scattershot redistribution of taxpayer money to all manner of informal, ill-defined, often religious, sometimes for-profit, frequently exclusive, and always unaccountable institutions?

Or will it be a mission we can all rally around, for the purpose of turning out the best-educated, well-informed, skillfully trained, most civically literate, and socially productive citizens we could produce for the benefit of our communities and our country?

I know the vision I prefer. Please vote no on Amendment 2. And demand better from your legislators.

Donna Hecker of Frankfort is a member of the Frankfort Independent School Board. The views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of other board members. She can be reached at donna@donnahecker.com.