young boy walks down a hallway at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky is one of three states with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Supporters of school choice in Kentucky are hoping voters will do what the state courts wouldn’t — allow a new path for state-supported payments to private schools.
Kentucky is one of three states, along with Colorado and Nebraska, with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. Voters will be asked to decide whether public money should go to support private education. Opponents say the measures would undermine public schools by shifting money from them, while backers maintain that state aid would give parents more control over their kids’ education.
The measures come as school choice gains momentum across the country. Thirty-three states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico already have at least one kind of school choice program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for the programs. They range from education savings accounts sponsored by the state to voucher programs to various types of tax credits that help provide scholarships or cover educational expenses for private schools.