2024 school choice ballot measures: what to know

Voters in three states will vote in referendums on the issue this election school choicea proposition that has gained political prominence in recent years thanks to a movement of parents dissatisfied with pandemic closures and controversies over race and gender.

Colorado, KentuckyAND Nebraska all hold referenda on various aspects of school choice. Colorado’s Amendment 80 would provide in the state constitution that “every child K-12 has the right to choose a school.” Kentucky’s Amendment 2 would allow the Legislature to provide state funding to students outside of public schools. A veto referendum in Nebraska would invalidate legislation authorizing a program to provide public scholarships to eligible students to attend private schools.

School choice involves providing parents with the opportunity to educate their children outside of traditional public schools. This includes allowing charter schools, providing parents with vouchers or other forms of funding to send their children to private schools, or helping parents homeschool their children.

In recent years, the school choice movement has achieved a number of significant victories.

In 2021, West Virginia became the first state to adopt a universal publicly funded school choice policy. The following year Arizona joined, followed by Iowa and Utah the following year.

Here’s everything you need to know about November’s voting initiatives:

Colorado

The Colorado Amendment is perhaps the most explicit school choice initiative, establishing the right to school choice for all children in the state.

The ballot asked voters the question: “Should an amendment be made to the Colorado constitution establishing the right to school choice for children in preschool through 12th grade and therefore stating that school choice includes neighborhood, charter and private schools; home learning; open registration options; and future innovations in education?

A 55% majority is required for the amendment to be ratified.

Funding is heavily one-sided in favor of those opposed. A super PAC registered to support the School Choice for Every Child initiative has reported no financial activity, According to Vote. Meanwhile, Public Schools Strong, a Super PAC registered to oppose the initiative, reported contributions totaling $3,788,747.21.

There have been no significant polls conducted regarding support for this amendment.

A large group of mostly Republican lawmakers support the initiative, while school groups and labor unions are the main opponents.

Rob Lowe, president and CEO of Ed Choice, explained his support for school choice Washington Examinerwithout referring to any specific voting initiative.

“The greatest mistake we made in America was to conflate the concept of public education with state and district schools,” he said. “We want (children) to be educated in our great charter schools, our great private schools and our great public schools. … The challenge is that we don’t want to support a system – a one-size-fits-all – status quo that doesn’t serve all children.”

Kevin Vick, president of the Colorado Education Association, warned that the amendment could cause “enormous damage to already fragile school funding” disguised under the “harmless word “choice.”

Kentucky

In Kentucky, school choice advocates are pushing to add language to the state constitution that would allow state funding to be provided for nonpublic education. The new language would read: “The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the public school system.”

Kentucky Amendment 2 has already passed the Kentucky House and Senate with 66.3% and 71% of the vote, respectively – 60% was needed for passage. The amendment must now be approved by a simple majority on a ballot initiative. No significant polls have been conducted to measure support, but overwhelming approval from the Legislature suggests a likely popular vote in favor.

As with other initiatives, funding is heavily skewed towards the initiative. Kentucky Students First Campaign for reported total contributions of $2,525,525. Protect Our Schools KY campaign against which donations totaling $7,061,517.48 were reported.

Tom Shelton, executive secretary of the Council for a Better Education and chair of the Protect Our Schools KY Executive Committee, said Washington Examiner that he believes vouchers harm public education by defunding it.

“No matter what you call them – some states call them education savings accounts, others call them scholarship accounts or tax credits. No matter what you call them, vouchers, by definition, provide a form of payment that can be used in other ways, and therefore defund our public schools, which are, once again, woefully underfunded,” he said. “For us, therefore, it is purely a question of financing and that is why we oppose it.”

Shelton disagreed with framing the issue as a “school choice” issue, arguing that Kentucky already has school choice given the presence of different types of schools. His organization disagrees with the diversion of public school funds to other schools.

“We support school choice; We simply don’t want to take public funds for this,” he said.

The amendment’s supporter, GOP state Sen. Damon Thayer, portrayed opposition to the bill as an unpopular and losing position that would surely be swept away by a string of recent victories. Kentucky Lighthouse reported.

“The minority party and the education establishment here in Kentucky continue to protect the status quo despite the shift that is taking place across the country in blue cities and blue states towards more and more ‘school choice,’” he said.

Nebraska

Nebraska’s ballot initiative is the only initiative that’s sparking an offensive from school choice opponents — it would repeal a law passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 2024 that provides $10 million a year to “fund educational scholarships to cover all or part of the educational costs of eligible students attending college.” nongovernmental, private elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska.”

Once again, the anti-school choice side has a major financial advantage. Campaign to veto the referendum “Let’s support our schools”, reported Contributions of $3,257,272.17. The anti-repeal group, Keep Kids First, reported a contribution of $1,508,037.44.

Midwest Newsroom-Emerson College vote found that 60% of Nebraskans oppose school voucher programs. A simple majority is enough for the ballot initiative to pass.

Nebraska State Education Association President Jenni Benson stated that LB 1402 was passed unethically and was intended to prevent citizens from voting on the issue. She described the school choice initiative as an “expensive new voucher program for taxpayers” and cited the huge number of signatures on the ballot petition as evidence of the repeal’s popularity, Ballotpedia reported.

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GOP state Sen. Dave Murman defended LB1402, saying it is “one of the most modest and modest” school choice programs in the country.

“Others have argued that LB 1402 prevents funding for public schools. Those who say so either have miscalculated or simply know they are lying,” Murman he said in a May 13 argument, contrasting $1.6 billion in public school funding during his tenure as Education Committee chairman with the $10 million cost of LB 1402.