UPDATE: 3 states vote against school choice, projections indicate

CNA Staff, Nov 6, 2024 / 11:45 am

Kentucky, Nebraska, and Colorado voted on school choice ballot measures on Tuesday. While the measure in Colorado has not yet been called, voters are on pace to reject school choice in each state.

Kentucky

With more than 95% of votes counted, Kentucky voters rejected an amendment by an almost 2-1 margin that would have allowed funding for charter schools.

Charter schools in Kentucky are currently legal but not funded by the state. Kentucky Amendment 2, the “Education Opportunities Constitution Amendment,” would have allowed the state to provide state funding to students outside of public schools. The amendment would have allowed consideration of a voucher program for students to attend private and parochial schools.

Kentucky’s constitution only allows state funding to go toward “common schools,” generally interpreted as public schools. If passed, the amendment would have explicitly allowed 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.

Kentucky school choice advocates have tried to pass funding for charter schools in recent years, but the Kentucky Supreme Court has shut down both attempts.

The coalition opposing the Kentucky charter school amendment spent almost four times as much as supporters.

Nebraska

Nebraska voters repealed a recent school choice scholarship voucher program that established a $10 million fund for scholarships in about a 57-42 vote.

The school choice program, LB 1402, provided 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. It was designed to enable students to apply for and receive scholarships to private schools through scholarship granting organizations.

Support Our Schools, which supported the repeal, had $7.42 million in funding, mostly from the National Education Association and the Nebraska State Education Association. The group working against the repeal, Keep Kids First, had only $1.45 million in funding.   

Colorado 

Colorado voters are on track to reject a school choice amendment with about 72% of votes counted, but the New York Times and The Colorado Sun have yet to call it. 

Colorado Amendment 80 would have established a right to school choice in the state constitution. It needed 55% support to pass. At the time of publication, it only had about 47.9% in favor and about 52% against. 

The school choice amendment would have enshrined a “right to school choice” in the state constitution for K–12 students. Amendment 80 defined school choice as including “neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education.” The amendment would have given 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.”

Colorado students currently may apply to public schools outside their district or to one of the state’s more than 260 charter schools. 

The amendment would have opened up the possibility of school choice programs at parochial schools.

While the Catholic bishops came out in support of school choice, a Colorado home schooling group, Christian Home Educators of Colorado, argued that the measure could lead to “increased government interference” due to its phrasing.

Executive Director of the Colorado Catholic Conference Brittany Vessely told CNA that “the Colorado Catholic Conference of Bishops is disappointed in the loss of Amendment 80.” 

“Amendment 80 aligned with Catholic social teaching: to ensure that parents are permitted to select the best education option(s) for their children and each person of every age has a right to education,” she explained. “This includes using a portion of state funding for parents to direct to the learning option that best fits the needs of their child.” 

“Because of this loss, it is likely that the anti-school choice majorities in the state Legislature will continue to attack Colorado’s current school choice options, including charter schools, and erode the rights of conscience and expression for parochial education providers and parents who choose options other than traditional public schools,” Vessely noted.

School choice in the U.S.

These votes against school choice bucked the ongoing trend in the U.S. in favor of school choice following a record year in 2023, when 20 states expanded school choice programs, with 11 states enacting “universal” school choice by allowing all students to use state tuition assistance to attend nonpublic schools.

School choice advocates argue that school choice helps parents make the best decision for their parents.  

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“Ensuring a quality education for our children is a fundamental duty and right every parent shares,” Alleigh Marré, the executive director of American Parents Coalition, a parents’ rights group based in Washington, D.C., told CNA.

“Whether it be gender-related policy for sports teams and bathrooms or curriculum that’s focused on the activist political issue du jour, school choice is an extremely important issue that gives parents the flexibility to make the best possible decision for their children and family,” Marré said.

This story was updated on Nov. 6, 2024, at 2:20 p.m. ET with the statement from the Colorado Catholic Conference.