Kentucky School Advocate

September 2024

By Karen Byrd

KSBA president

Boone County school board member

From the outside looking in, being a school board member seems like an easy job: Go to a meeting once a month, vote on a few things, go home. Simple, right? At least that’s been the perception relayed to me over my three decades of local board service by many outside the role. 

Like me, such perception probably makes you chuckle. I did even as I was writing this because we know that perception is nowhere near reality of what board members do and why they do it. 

Local school board members face innumerable challenges in service to their community’s public education systems. So why do we serve? The answer is we believe in public education and meeting the educational needs of ALL students. That is why I find the proposed Constitutional Amendment 2 so troubling.  

In a nutshell, Amendment 2 attempts strike seven different sections of the Kentucky Constitution. Let that sink in for a moment … Not just one or two – SEVEN. As KSBA’s president, and as an outspoken public schools advocate like you, I want to focus on just three of the exceptions created by Amendment 2.  

Section 171 requires that tax dollars only be used for public matters. Why would the framers of Kentucky’s constitution limit the use of public funds exclusively for public purposes? From my perspective, that is a key purpose of government: to provide services that benefit everyone directly or indirectly, not just the few. In their wisdom, they said everyone should pay some taxes and the state legislature will use those taxes effectively to provide services that benefit all. That singular purpose is being subverted under the guise of “school choice.” Let’s be clear, this is not about “choice” – it’s about who pays for that choice. Amendment 2 will siphon away our public tax dollars to support private entities that are not subject to the same rules, standards, transparency and oversight as public schools.

Now consider with me Sections 59 and 60 of the Kentucky Constitution, which prohibit – directly and indirectly – the state legislature from enacting laws which would target a specific area, or areas, of the state. These sections were established, in part, to ensure laws apply equally to everyone. Amendment 2 would create an exception to these restraints. 

In reality, Amendment 2, if passed by Kentucky voters, gives a blank check and broad new authority to the General Assembly to direct our tax dollars to private schools. We have been given no clues as to what legislation would come from this, no detail as to how far this will go, no sense of how devastating this could be for our public schools. 

Maybe I’m less trusting than others, but there are very few people to whom I would hand over my credit card without first having a clear understanding how they intend to use it and knowing full well how they will be held accountable for my money. 

Over the next several weeks, the voices of school board members across Kentucky must be raised in unison to educate our communities on what Amendment 2 proposes to do and what it could mean to our local public schools. KSBA continues to develop great resources – from downloadable documents and graphics to informative webinars and in-depth articles. Please take the time to familiarize yourselves with the facts on Amendment 2 so you can do all you can to inform your community.

If you want to say YES to educating all Kentucky kids, I urge you to vote NO on Amendment 2.