School choice, an issue that has divided parents for years, is on the ballot in three states this November: Kentucky, Colorado and Nebraska. Choice programs allow states to spend public funds for private or alternative schools.
The ballot items in Colorado and Kentucky propose adding language supporting school choice to their states’ constitutions but neither lays out specifics for a statewide program.
If the Colorado and Kentucky measures pass, the states would join at least 29 states and the District of Columbia which already have some form of school choice language on the books, according to an Education Week analysis .
The Nebraska measure aims to repeal a $10 million school voucher program its state legislature passed this year, putting that decision in the hands of voters.
School choice experts told USA TODAY that these measures align with debates playing out across the country.
“What we’ve seen in the few last years is that private school choice programs are expanding rapidly, among almost exclusively red states,” said Deven Carlson, a professor and associate director of education at the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis.