Beshear says school district speaking against Amendment 2 was ‘just being honest with people’

Signs hoisted by members of the Fancy Farm audience on Aug. 3, 2024, express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, a former attorney general, said he would be “curious” to see if a recent Attorney General advisory warning school districts to not use tax dollars to advocate for or against a constitutional amendment would have been rendered in response to a lawmaker discussing the same issue.

“I’m curious whether it would have been issued if a state legislator had used their public letterhead or an official Twitter or Facebook account,” the governor told the Kentucky Lantern in an interview Tuesday. “If we are going to put out opinions like this, it has to be content neutral, and it has to apply to more than just a school district fighting for its funding.”

Pulaski County Schools, a public school district seated around Somerset with more than 7,500 students, has faced backlash from Republicans regarding a post on its Facebook page and school websites advocating against Amendment 2. It’s since taken down the post and replaced it with a new message from Superintendent Patrick Richardson, who said the district will comply with a Tuesday advisory from Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman “until it is overruled.”

If passed, Amendment 2 would allow the Kentucky General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, such as private or charter schools. Advocates against the amendment say the change could cut into funding for existing public schools.

Beshear, who has been among Kentucky Democrats speaking against Amendment 2 since the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved putting it on the ballot, said that he’s been the subject of similar efforts to control his messaging. Last year, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled a 2022 piece of legislation that aimed to stop the governor from spending public funds to challenge legislative actions was unconstitutional.

“We went to court, and we won that because that’s part of my job,” Beshear said. “When you look at Pulaski County, they stand to lose a significant amount of funding, and none of that funding will stay in that region. That is a public school district advocating for its own funding and just being honest with people that if that constitutional amendment passes, it will cut them significantly.”

The attorney general’s advisory, which was “to remind those entrusted with the administration of tax dollars appropriated for public education that those resources must not be used to advocate for or against” proposed Constitutional Amendment 2, came after Republicans claimed Pulaski County Schools violated state law by using tax dollars to advocate against the amendment.

Richardson said in his statement that he didn’t agree with Coleman’s advisory, but removed the posts from the district’s official Facebook page and school websites in response to it.

“I have advised district employees to not use district resources or use their time during school hours to oppose or encourage people to ‘VOTE NO on Amendment 2’, the voucher amendment,” Richardson said.

The superintendent added that the school district was not contacted by the Attorney General’s Office before issuing the advisory and called it an example of “partisan politics at its worst.”

“When elected officials work to silence people, that is a red flag that we should all take notice of what is going on,” Richardson said. “I do encourage my staff to work diligently for our students during the school day and, in view of this advisory, to only work outside of school hours and with their own resources and time to make everyone informed about Amendment 2 and its impact on public school funding in Pulaski County.”