On the first morning of early voting in Kentucky, voters in Lexington waited to enter the polling place at the Tates Creek branch of the public library. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Kevin Nance)
With days left in Kentucky’s general election, supporters and opponents of Amendment 2 are traveling the state to make their last-minute pitches to voters.
Republicans U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, his wife Kelley Paul and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke to a Bowling Green rally for the amendment Monday evening. Meanwhile, Kentucky Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, made their case against the amendment during a Fayette County Democrats’ rally on Wednesday, the evening before early voting began.
Both the senator and the governor are backing political action committees that are spending a lot of money on this issue ahead of the election. The Protect Freedom PAC, sponsored by Pennsylvania billionaire and mega donor Jeff Yass, has spent $3.75 million to promote Amendment 2 and has released ads featuring the Pauls. Meanwhile, Kentuckians for Public Education, a PAC operated by Beshear’s campaign manager, has raised more than $975,000.
Amendment 2, which has divided Kentucky politicians along partisan lines, would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, or those “outside the system of common schools.” The amendment would suspend or “notwithstand” seven sections of the state Constitution to allow public money to flow to nonpublic schools. The legislation for the amendment was a priority for Republican lawmakers earlier this year and an attempt to overcome constitutional hurdles cited by Kentucky courts striking down earlier charter school and private school tax credit laws.
At the Bowling Green rally, which was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Kentucky, Sen. Paul blamed Kentucky courts. It “boggles the mind,” he said, that the courts “interpreted our Constitution to say the legislature wasn’t allowed to debate, discuss or legislate on education” but he was unsure of how a different ruling could come without a new court. Kentucky Supreme Court justices are elected on a rotating election schedule.
“This originated in the courts,” Paul said of challenges to funding nonpublic schools. “They created this problem.”
Last December, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd wrote that charter schools are “private entities” that do not meet the Kentucky Constitution’s definition of “public schools” or “common schools,” striking down a state charter school law. Before that, the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2022 unanimously struck down a law creating a generous tax credit to help families pay for tuition at private schools. The opinion, which upheld a circuit court ruling by Shepherd, cited a long line of precedent reinforcing the Kentucky Constitution’s ban on the state financially supporting private schools.
Paul said that support for the amendment is “getting closer, but I still sense that we need more momentum.” He urged attendees at the rally to canvass and spread the word about the amendment.
“It is not legislation. It doesn’t appropriate any money,” he told the crowd. “It doesn’t take a single penny from public education. It’s an amendment that allows the legislature to do what they’re supposed to do — debate how best we should get education for our kids.”
When asked by a reporter what system the legislature should consider if the amendment passes, Paul said lawmakers must debate that. He pointed to the legislation struck down by the Supreme Court “So I would say vote for Amendment 2 if you believe in private charity, you believe in private philanthropy, you believe in church schools, non-religious schools,” he said. “You believe that somehow we ought to have some kind of educational choice.”
Republican House Speaker David Osborne has previously said that debate about what should come next if the amendment passes will likely be “contentious.” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers predicted “we’re probably a year away from any type of legislation.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are honing in on the ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding what could come should the amendment pass. Speaking with reporters after the Fayette County rally at The Burl in Lexington, Beshear said “there is no question that this is simply a voucher scheme” despite what Republicans say. Under such systems, families can use vouchers of state funds to send students to their school of choice.
“Our solution should be to fully fund public schools and not to give a blank check to Frankfort politicians to move money away from them and further defund them,” the governor said.
Beshear said “Kentuckians have further educated themselves” about Amendment 2 and was confident it would be defeated Tuesday. He said opponents of the measure, including the Kentucky Education Association, AFT union members, teachers, superintendents, Lexington area faith leaders and parents, have “put in a lot of work” ahead of the election.
“People are fundamentally against giving Frankfort politicians the ability to take money away from public schools and send it to unaccountable private schools,” Beshear said, referring to how public schools are overseen by the Kentucky Department of Education.
Coleman echoed Beshear’s sentiments in her speech to the crowd. A former educator herself, she has been holding press conferences across the state to speak out against the amendment.
“There are more reasons than I have time to cover right now about why Amendment 2 is detrimental to our schools, our families, our communities in this commonwealth,” she said Wednesday. “But let me tell you this: this General Assembly is undeserving of a blank check from the voters.”
Volunteers and staffers will be hitting the campaign trail themselves with little time left before the polls close at 6 p.m. Tuesday. A representative of AFP said at the end of the Bowling Green rally that the group is aiming to make 20,000 contacts with voters this week after making 200,000 contacts through canvassing already. One of the largest PACs against the amendment, Protect Our Schools, has canvassing and tour stops listed throughout Kentucky through Election Day on its Facebook page.
The general election in Kentucky is Tuesday, Nov. 5. No-excuse early voting began Thursday, Oct. 31.