These three states have school choice on the ballot 

CNA Staff, Oct 15, 2024 / 17:05 pm

As Election Day approaches, three states will be deciding on policies regarding school choice. 

Colorado and Kentucky have amendments on the ballot to promote school choice, while Nebraska has a ballot measure that could repeal a recent school choice scholarship program.

The Colorado and Kentucky ballot measures would enshrine school choice as a right if passed, setting the groundwork for legislation to implement school choice programs. 

Catholic students often benefit from school choice programs. In 2023, the National Catholic Educational Association found that 13.7% of Catholic school students use school choice programs to help them attend Catholic school.

Repealing school choice in Nebraska

A ballot measure to repeal a new school choice scholarship voucher program is set to be on the November ballot in Nebraska.

The school choice program provides scholarships to students to attend qualifying private schools, including parochial schools, with a high priority for students in foster care, students experiencing bullying or harassment, and students in need of special education as well as low-income and lower-middle-class families. Students may apply for and receive scholarships to private schools through scholarship granting organizations.

Rachel Terry, founder of School Choice Nebraska, said the program helps low-income families.

“Nebraska’s tax-credit scholarship program enables students from lower-income families to access educational alternatives when their local public schools aren’t meeting their needs,” Terry told CNA. “Without this program, many of these students lack the financial means to attend private schools that may better serve them.”

If passed, low-income students would be the most adversely affected, as the repeal “would limit educational choices for these families, potentially requiring students to return to schools that were previously not meeting their needs,” she said.

“In Nebraska, the wealthy already have options: They can afford private school tuition in addition to paying for public schools with their property taxes. Well-off families won’t feel the pain of losing the program,” Terry said. “The children who will suffer are the most vulnerable children in the state.”

Enshrining school choice in Colorado and Kentucky 

Colorado Amendment 80 would establish a right to school choice in the state constitution. 

Colorado students currently may apply to public schools outside their district or charter schools. The school choice amendment would enshrine a “right to school choice” in the constitution for K–12 students. 

Amendment 80 defines school choice as including “neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education.”

The amendment would give parents “the right to direct the education of their children” while ensuring that all children “have the right to equal opportunity to access a quality education.”

Supporters argue that the ballot measure would protect school choice, such as charter schools, in the future, while opponents say that school choice could take away funding from public schools.

Kentucky Amendment 2, the “Education Opportunities Constitution Amendment,” would allow the state to provide state funding to students outside of public schools. Charter schools in Kentucky are currently allowed but not funded. 

Kentucky’s constitution only allows state funding to go toward “common schools,” generally interpreted as public schools. If passed, the amendment would explicitly allow the government to give “financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools” for K–12 students, according to the amendment text.

Supporters of the amendment argue that it would put decisions about education in the hands of parents, while opponents say it paves the way to funding private institutions.