2024 school choice ballot measures: What you need to know

Voters in three states will vote on this election in referendums school choiceIt’s a proposal that has gained political prominence in recent years, thanks to a movement by parents disgruntled with pandemic shutdowns and debates over race and gender.

colorado, KentuckyAnd Nebraska they all hold referendums on different aspects of school choice. Colorado’s 80th Amendment states in the state constitution that “every K-12 child has the right to choose a school.” Kentucky’s Amendment 2 would allow the legislature to provide state funding for students outside public schools. A veto referendum in Nebraska would overturn legislation authorizing a program that provides public grants for eligible students to attend private schools.

School choice requires providing parents with options for their children’s education besides traditional public schools. This includes allowing charter schools, providing vouchers or other forms of funding for parents to send their children to private schools, or helping parents educate their children at home.

The school choice movement has seen a number of major victories in recent years.

In 2021, West Virginia became the first state to adopt a universal, publicly funded school choice policy. The next year it was joined by Arizona, and a year later by Iowa and Utah.

Here’s everything you need to know about the November ballot initiatives:

colorado

Colorado’s amendment is perhaps the most explicit school choice initiative, granting school choice to all children in the state.

The following question is asked to voters on the ballot: “Will an amendment be made to the Colorado constitution that regulates the right of children to choose schools from kindergarten to 12th grade and, in connection with this, states that school choice includes neighborhoods, private schools and private schools?” home education; open registration options; and future innovations in education?”

A 55% majority is required for the amendment to be approved.

Funding is largely one-sided in favor of those opposed. The super PAC registered to support the School Choice for Every Child initiative did not report any financial activity. accordingly Ballopedia. By contrast, Public Schools Strong, the Super PAC registered to oppose the initiative, reported total contributions of $3,788,747.21.

There has been no serious polling on support for the amendment.

While a large group of mostly Republican lawmakers supports the initiative, the main opponents are school groups and unions.

Rob Lowe, president and CEO of Ed Choice, announces his support for school choice Washington ComptrollerI’m not referring to any ballot initiative.

“The biggest mistake we made in America was associating the concept of public education with state and district schools,” he said. “We want (children) to be educated in our big charter schools, our big private schools, our big public schools. … The challenge is that we don’t want to support a one-size-fits-all system that doesn’t serve all children.”

Kevin Vick, President of the Colorado Education Association. warned He said the change “could cause tremendous damage to already fragile school finances” masked under the “innocuous word ‘choice’.”

Kentucky

In Kentucky, school choice advocates are aiming to add language to the state constitution that would allow state funds to be provided for nonpublic education. The new language would read: “The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the common school system.”

Kentucky Amendment 2 has already passed the Kentucky House and Senate with 66.3 percent and 71 percent of the votes, respectively; it needed 60 percent to pass. The change now must be approved by a simple majority through a ballot initiative. No significant polling has been conducted to gauge support, but the overwhelming approval from the legislature suggests there is likely a popular vote in favor.

As with other initiatives, funding is grossly disproportionate to the initiative. Campaign in favor of Kentucky Students First, reported total contributions of $2,525,525. A total of $7,061,517.48 in contributions were reported to the Save Our Schools KY campaign.

Tom Shelton, general secretary of the Council for Better Education and chairman of the Protect Our Schools KY Executive Committee, said: Washington Comptroller He believes vouchers are a way to harm public education by taking away funding.

“Whatever you want to call them, some states call them education savings accounts, some call them scholarship accounts, tax credits. Whatever you call them, a voucher, by definition, is giving a form of payment that will be used in a different way, which, again, unfortunately “It would mean taking funds away from our underfunded public schools,” he said. “So it’s purely a funding issue for us, which is part of the reason why we oppose it.”

Shelton took issue with portraying the issue as “school choice,” arguing that Kentucky already has school choice given the presence of all kinds of different schools. His organization addresses the issue of redirecting public school funds to other schools.

“We support school choice. “We don’t want to take public funds just to pay for it,” he said.

GOP state Sen. Damon Thayer, one of the amendment’s supporters, portrayed opposition to the bill as an unpopular and losing position that was bound to be washed away by the recent string of victories. Kentucky Lighthouse reported.

“Kentucky’s minority party and education establishment continue to maintain the status quo despite the shift occurring across the country in blue cities and blue states increasingly in favor of ‘school choice,’” he said.

Nebraska

The Nebraska vote is the only initiative to put opposing school choices under attack — it would repeal a bill passed by the Nebraska legislature in 2024 that provides $10 million annually “to fund educational scholarships to pay for all or part of the educational expenses of eligible students.” . Students attending nonprofit, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska.

Once again, the anti-school choice side has a huge funding advantage. Support for the veto referendum campaign, Support for Our Schools, reported Contribution of $3,257,272.17. Put Kids First, the group opposing the repeal, reported contributions of $1,508,037.44.

A Midwest Newsroom-Emerson College questionnaire It found that 60% of Nebraskans oppose school voucher programs. Only a simple majority is required for the ballot initiative to pass.

Jenni Benson, President of the Nebraska State Education Association, said the bill, LB 1402, was passed unethically to prevent citizens from voting on the issue. He called the school choice initiative “a costly new voucher scheme for taxpayers” and cited the large amount of signatures on the ballot as evidence of the bill’s popularity, Ballotpedia reported.

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GOP state Sen. Dave Murman defended LB 1402, saying it was one of the “modest and most inadequate” school choice programs in the country.

“Others argued that LB 1402 cuts funding for public schools. “Those who make this claim either haven’t done the calculations or they just know they’re lying,” Murman said. in question A May 13 debate compared the $1.6 billion in funding provided to public schools during his time as Education Committee Chairman with the $10 million cost of LB 1402.