Public school campaign launches, Kentucky school-choice amendment approaches

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Just as Kentucky turns the page on this week’s primaries, attention now goes to November and the big battle over public school money that will be playing out across the state. Public school advocates are wasting no time getting started on the campaign.

“Protect Our Schools Kentucky is a coalition of public education advocates and allied organizations committed to defeating the voucher amendment,” Perry County Schools Superintendent Kent Campbell said at a press conference Thursday.

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The “voucher amendment” is one of many nicknames voters may start hearing about this year’s amendment 2, a ballot question for voters to decide if Kentucky schools outside the public school system can get any public money. The issue for some in public education is a flashpoint, especially in rural areas like Hazard. For context, there are seven schools across the district.

“Over time, the strain placed on public schools by this voucher scheme began to become too much. And this leads to radical disinvestment of public schools,” the district’s chief financial officer Jody Maggard said.

Maggard stressed that their dollars are tight enough that if the district were to start getting less funds from the state, cuts, either to programs or staff, would have to happen.

“Educational services, medical services, social emotional services. We feed them and we love them. So, we’ve got a great thing going right now. Let’s not change it,” Campbell said.

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Members of Kentucky’s Republican leadership have repeatedly defended the amendment and the move towards financing charter schools.

“Public education is here. It’s going to be here. And we have told people that once we got our fiscal house in order, we would start doing things to make sure we were funding public education,” Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) said during an April press conference when the session concluded.

The Protect Our Schools Kentucky campaign now begins a statewide tour over the next month with the first stop in Paducah on May 28.

FOX 56 asked for comment from school choice group EdChoice Kentucky but has not heard back.

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