LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just hours out from the polls in Kentucky opening to voters, advocates and opponents of Amendment 2 are making their final push.
The Protect Our Schools KY campaign stopped by Louisville, the campaign's last stop on a nine-city bus tour, urging voters to vote no on Amendment 2.
"Our public schools open their doors every single day. They welcome every student with wide open arms, no matter where they're from, no matter what their zip code, how much money they have in the pocket, the color of their skin. We welcome every student," said Kentucky Education Association President Eddie Campbell. "We should be investing in our public schools, making sure that we're addressing the teacher shortage, making sure that we're addressing the transportation shortage, making sure that we're addressing universal pre-K."
The campaign claims the amendment cuts funding to public education.
"This amendment is a threat to public schools. It could take lots of money away from public schools educate everyone and siphon that away to unaccountable private schools. It's a blank check to Frankfurt politicians that have historically not fully invested in public schools," Maddie Shepard, the president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said.
On the other hand, the Kentucky Pastors Coalition is throwing their support behind the amendment.
"I believe that school choice, it empowers the parents, and we need to make it about the children," said Shannon Cook, president of Russell Vision Development. "Our children need all the help and options that they can get; a lot of our young people are suffering in math and science. They have failing grades. So anything that we can do to empower the child educationally, that's what we need to do."
The pastors say the amendment gives families more of a choice.
"It's time for amendment two to allow the parents to give an opportunity to see what's best for their children," said Jerry Stephenson, pastor of Midwest Church of Christ. "Some good competition, where parents can say to a school system, 'if you educate my child, that's good, but if you can't, then I need the opportunity to take my child to a system that can.'"
Here's how Amendment 2 will appear on the ballot:
"To give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children, are you in favor of enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools by amending the Constitution of Kentucky as stated below?
IT IS PROPOSED THAT A NEW SECTION BE ADDED TO THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools. The General Assembly may exercise this authority by law, Sections 59, 60, 171, 183, 184, 186, and 189 of this Constitution notwithstanding."
If you vote "yes" on Amendment 2, the state constitution would change to allow taxpayer dollars to be used to fund private or charter schools. The money would not flow immediately, however. Lawmakers would still need to create and pass legislation regulating how the funds can be allocated.
If you vote "no" on Amendment 2, the state constitution would not change. Money for public schools would not go to private or charter schools.
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