(LEX 18) — Governor Andy Beshear hit the campaign trail on Tuesday to urge voters to say no to Amendment 2. He also addressed "misinformation" surrounding the measure.
"I am here today to ask all the voters in Kentucky to vote against Amendment 2," said Beshear in Lexington. "It is very simple. Amendment 2 would allow Frankfort politicians to take taxpayer money away from public schools and send it to unaccountable private schools."
Amendment 2 is a measure that affects school funding. If passed, the state constitution would be changed to include this text: "The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools.”
Currently, taxpayer dollars can only go to "common" schools, which are public schools. But the proposed change would allow state lawmakers to allocate public funds to private schools, if they choose to do so.
Beshear, who was joined by the American Federation of Teachers, believes the measure is "nothing more than a money grab" that will hurt public schools.
"These are significant funds going into public school systems all over the state that private corporations or others want a piece of," he added.
"You know what we teach in our public schools? We teach math. And in math, we teach subtraction. So, if we have a certain amount of money going to public schools and this amendment allows the supermajority to take some of that money and send it to private schools - our public schools have less," said Beshear. "They have less money for raises. They have less money for resources for our students. They have less to do everything that we ask them to do."
However, not everyone feels this way.
EdChoice Kentucky is a group working to bring school choice to Kentucky. The group's website lists its goal as "helping Kentucky students."
"The same education doesn't work for every child - learning styles and abilities are as unique as each child," the website goes on to say. "Kentucky students deserve a choice in their education. Education Choice is a common-sense solution."
The group supports Amendment 2 because it believes using taxpayer funds on private and charter schools would provide Kentucky families with options.
"EdChoice Kentucky is committed to ALL Kentucky students having access to the best educational opportunities," the group's spokesperson said in a statement. "Parents know what would meet the educational needs of their child and they should have the access to make that choice."
Beshear believes Kentuckians will defeat Amendment 2. However, he raised concerns about "misinformation."
"I've seen on some of their mailers that this will somehow give me, Andy Beshear, more options - suggesting I am for it," he said. "Let me be clear, I am fully opposed to Amendment 2. I'm going to vote no against Amendment 2 and I'm going to do everything I can to defeat it."
"The second thing it said on there is that supporting Amendment 2 will somehow increase public school teacher pay. But again, that fails math and subtraction because if our public schools have a certain amount right now, which isn't enough for the teacher raises that we tried to mandate, and you take some of that money away, you have less," he added.
