After spending 20 years in school district administration in two of Kentucky’s largest school districts, Fayette and Daviess Counties, I know first-hand how hard Kentucky’s teachers and students work in classrooms across the commonwealth. And I know what it costs to ensure they have everything they need to succeed.
But for years, they haven’t gotten enough. Falling state education funding since 2008 has led to a variety of harms, including lower inflation-adjusted teacher pay, a growing educator shortage, cuts ranging from fewer days in the school calendar, reduced course offerings, increased fees, and reduced student supports.
The reality is that inflation-adjusted funding for SEEK, which is the state’s primary education funding mechanism, is 26% less than it was in 2008.
Yet proponents of Amendment 2 are attempting to paint a picture of waste and failure at Kentucky public schools to try to win support for taking money from those schools and giving it to a private school voucher program. These dishonest arguments twist state education funding numbers to make them seem much larger than they are, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. For instance, when proponents talk about increases in education spending they include pension liability debt payments, even though that money does not go into schools at all.
Public school opponents are practiced in deceiving voters about education funding. For years, they’ve claimed that the legislature is providing “record” funding to schools because of modest increases in the dollar amount going to public education. But even adding one new dollar of funding a year would result in “record” funding. The reality is that inflation-adjusted funding for SEEK, which is the state’s primary education funding mechanism, is 26% less than it was in 2008. Shifting money away from our public schools to fund a voucher program would only make it harder to hire the teachers, buy the school buses, and maintain the buildings our kids depend on.
With just weeks left until the election, the misinformation about Amendment 2 is hard to keep track of. Among the claims most disconnected from reality is the assertion that passing Amendment 2 will increase teacher pay. The reality is that average teacher pay is over $5,000 a year lower in states with voucher programs than it is in states without vouchers. And if the legislature wanted to increase teacher pay it could simply increase teacher pay, no constitutional amendment necessary.
The most preposterous piece of misinformation around Amendment 2 though may be the idea that its passage will only allow Frankfort politicians to explore ways to improve Kentucky’s education system. They can already do that by addressing the teacher shortage, shrinking class sizes, and ensuring every Kentucky child goes to pre-K. The one thing they cannot do, due to a Kentucky Constitution that is one of the nation’s strongest on public education, is spend public money on private schools. That’s why Amendment 2 is on the ballot and that’s what will happen if it passes.
We must continue to support our public schools, where 90% of our students attend, and vote No on amendment 2 – the voucher amendment.
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Written by Tom Shelton, who is executive secretary of the Council for Better Education and executive committee chair for Protect Our Schools KY. He is a former public school superintendent. Cross-posted from the NKY Tribune.
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