Gov. Andy Beshear: Here’s why I proudly vetoed the backdoor school voucher bill | Opinion

I want to explain why I proudly vetoed the backdoor school voucher bill Republican leaders have sent to my desk. When certain out-of-state self-serving billionaires and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are against you, you know you’re doing the right thing. (Tellingly, the WSJ refused to consider publishing my thoughts on this veto.)

This was an easy decision; I vetoed this legislation as it is an end-around Kentucky’s state constitution which requires public funds go to public schools.

I will always be a staunch pro-public education governor. I went to public schools and my two kids attend public high school in Frankfort. I will forever be grateful to my teachers for helping to instill in me a love of learning and engagement with the world.

The Kentucky Constitution prohibits directing taxpayer dollars away from our public schools to private schools. Period. In 2024, our Republican supermajority put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to try to change that; it was defeated 65%-35% and lost in every single one of our 120 counties.

School choice advocates often try to use teachers unions as a boogeyman for why voucher programs or privatization schemes fail. In Kentucky, so-called school choice was soundly rejected at the ballot box by parents in every single part —rural, suburban and urban — of our commonwealth. This was on the same election night that Donald Trump won Kentucky by 31%.

Teachers were up against millions of dollars in out-of-state spending. That included a $5 million ad campaign featuring Senator Rand Paul funded by a Pennsylvania billionaire; the initiative lost by 26% in Rand Paul’s hometown.

The Trump federal tax credit plan would turn over the administration of our taxpayer dollars to the Kentucky Secretary of State — an office with no public education or taxation experience. It is a cynical, unserious approach; they think the Secretary will implement this scheme and they know that I will not.

It is the height of elitism to tell Kentucky parents that they do not know what is best for their children. That is why I vetoed HB1.

Our public schools are the anchors of our communities, and are often the single biggest employer in a county. They are where our kids get to unlock their potential. And where we cheer on our hometown high school basketball, baseball, softball and football teams. They’re even often where local disaster relief efforts are based following severe weather. These schools are a big part of our identity.

The vast majority of the 120 counties which voted against diverting taxpayer money from public schools do not even have a private or charter school. School choice is effectively an enormous diversion of tax dollars away from our rural communities to more affluent areas in cities.

What is so frustrating about this debate is that the Republican supermajority in Kentucky’s General Assembly has repeatedly failed our public schools and shirked its constitutional duty to sufficiently fund them. We are currently 48th in starting teacher pay and 42nd in average teacher pay. The supermajority is quick to blame our public schools for test scores while refusing to give teachers a well-deserved raise.

I picked a public school civics teacher, vice principal and basketball coach to serve as my lieutenant governor because public education is at the core of my administration. The Republican governor I defeated in 2019 tried to illegally cut the pensions of teachers and educators — as attorney general, I took him to court, sued him and won, protecting the pensions of all of our educators.

I am currently working to pass Pre-K for All this session. We have widespread bipartisan support including legislators, county executives, mayors and chambers of commerce across our commonwealth backing this plan. A similar bill was passed with overwhelming support of Republicans when Matt Bevin was the governor. He did the wrong thing and vetoed it. Since that veto, all that has changed is the party registration of the governor of Kentucky, and many Republicans in the legislature don’t want to support something I’m backing because it might give me “a win.”

An estimated half of Kentucky children don’t show up to school ready for kindergarten. I recently talked to a kindergarten teacher who had five children in her class who were not potty trained.

Instead of all of this energy trying to divert money from our public schools, we should be investing in early childhood education, which every study shows is the single most effective thing we can do to give every one of our children the opportunity to get ahead and succeed.

The future of our economy is in our classrooms. Let’s stop trying to take money out of our public schools.

Andy Beshear is serving his second term as governor of Kentucky.

This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 11:37 AM.