Study: School vouchers could cost Kentucky to support upper-class

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — In November, Kentucky will decide if the state constitution should allow the state to fund schools outside the public school system.

A Kentucky Center for Economic Policy study said that a voucher program similar to one in Florida, one of the largest in the U.S., could cost the state $1.19 billion. The center said that is like employing 9,869 public school teachers and employees.

“This amendment does not create a school choice program, but it allows the discussion to move forward,” Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions President Jim Waters said.

A smaller program, similar to Indiana or Ohio, could cost Kentucky $199 million, equivalent to the cost of employing 1,645 public school personnel.

Members of Kentucky’s Republican leadership have 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 report said in other states, 65% to 90% of voucher costs go to subsidized families already sending their children to private schools or planning to do so, people who make 54% more than public school families.

“You’re going to be then funding 70% of these kids is already attending these private schools, and where is that money going to come from? I mean, is the legislature going to raise taxes? That would be my number one question,” said Carter County Schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Green.

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The program will cost the poorest Kentuckians to make private education cheaper for the richer families in the state, according to the study.

A pro-voucher campaign, EdChoice Kentucky , said 30 states have implemented programs to advance education choice with studies suggesting better student performance and improvements for public schools.

“The dollars will go where they’re needed and they will educate students, and if they do, then that’s the goal. If they educate the students, whether that’s in private Catholic schools or whether that’s in a public charter school or a traditional school, that’s what those dollars are for,” Waters said.

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