This article was originally published in Kentucky Lantern.
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.
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“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.”