Election Day at the Landsdowne Elementary School precinct in Lexington, Nov. 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)
LOUISVILLE — A constitutional amendment to allow the Kentucky General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools failed at the ballot box Tuesday.
Amendment 2 — which 65 % of voters rejected, according to unofficial results — would have opened a path for the Republican-controlled legislature to allow state dollars to flow to nonpublic schools, such as private or charter schools. Leading up to the election , Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, attempted to bolster support for the measure while Democrats led by Gov. Andy Beshear attacked the amendment as a threat to public education.
Opposition to Amendment 2 spanned rural and urban Kentucky, said Will Powers, the policy and public engagement coordinator for the Kentucky Student Voice Team, which toured the state by bus rallying opposition.
“I think it’s a ubiquitous message. Everyone resonates with it,” Powers said Tuesday night during a Protect Ours Schools PAC watch party in Louisville. “Every community has a public school, not every community has a private school. And I think we’re seeing the ramifications of that one true fact.”