Education Week - October 2, 2024 - 11

Private School Choice
In the 2024 Election,
Explained
By Mark Lieberman
Voters have never approved a ballot
initiative that paves the way for private
school choice. But that could change
this November as several states put
before voters the question of public
funding for private education.
Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska
will ask voters on Election
Day whether they support laying the
groundwork for more state-funded
private school choice, and in one
case, halting an existing program
that offers public dollars for parents
to spend on private schooling.
In Utah, meanwhile, critics of private
school choice believe that if a
proposed constitutional amendment
is successful, it could free up
more state funds for the state's education
savings account program,
which is currently accessible to all
students statewide.
Private school choice has become
one of the most hotly debated issues
in K-12 education since the start of
the pandemic. Since then, roughly
a dozen states have enacted statefunded
private school choice offerings
that are or will eventually be
open to all students.
Other states have expanded eligibility
and funding for existing programs
that make public funds available
for private education or created
new programs with more narrowly
targeted eligibility criteria.
Lawmakers in Idaho, Tennessee,
and Texas have recently signaled
plans to revive private school choice
legislation next year.
Presidential nominees Kamala
Harris and Donald Trump haven't
spent much time detailing their
views on private school choice during
their campaigns. But the Republican
Party platform includes a call
for universal school choice in every
state. Project 2025, the massive conservative
policy agenda crafted by
the Heritage Foundation and many
who served in the first Trump administration,
calls for allowing parents to
spend federal education funds on
private school expenses. The Democratic
Party platform, meanwhile,
calls vouchers, tax-credit scholarships,
and other private school choice
mechanisms " schemes that divert
taxpayer-funded resources away
from public education. "
Proponents of private school
choice hope the increased prominence
and reach of these policies
will spur voters to support additional
expansion.
Here's a state-by-state guide to the
key contests to watch.
COLORADO
The proposal: Voters will decide
whether to enshrine in the
state constitution that all students
" have a right to school choice. " If
" yes " prevails, examples of school
choice mentioned in the new addition
to the constitution would include
" neighborhood schools, charter
schools, private schools, home
schools, open-enrollment options,
and future innovations in education. "
The initiative needs support
from 55 percent of voters to pass.
The stakes: A growing school
choice movement has swept Republican
state legislatures as the
COVID-19 pandemic reoriented
many parents' educational priorities
for their children. Teachers' unions
and public school advocates worry
that the amendment would presage
a push for vouchers or education
savings accounts in Colorado, where
Democrats control the governor's
office and both chambers of the legislature.
Organizations behind the
ballot initiative say they want to lock
in existing regulations that allow for
the proliferation of charter schools.
Background: Colorado does not
have any private school choice programs.
Lawmakers have tried several
times in the last two decades
to introduce one, to no avail. In
2003, a Denver judge struck down
a school voucher program on the
grounds that it robbed districts of
local control.
KENTUCKY
The proposal: Voters will decide
whether to amend the state constitution
to explicitly allow the state to
fund education options outside the
public school system. The initiative
needs a simple majority of votes in
favor to pass.
The stakes: This amendment
is the highest-profile contest on
the Kentucky ballot this November,
after the presidential election.
If voters approve it, and the state
subsequently passes private school
choice legislation that's comparable
to other states' programs, Kentucky
could be spending more than $1
billion a year on education savings
accounts, according to an estimate
by the left-leaning Kentucky Center
for Economic Policy. The amendment
could also pave the way for
Kentucky to become one of the last
states to approve charter schools.
The initiative's supporters counter
that the amendment wouldn't create
a new program but simply lay the
groundwork for closer consideration
of private school choice. Gov. Andy
Beshear, a Democrat, and public
school advocates are urging voters
to reject the proposal, arguing that
the amendment will harm public
schools' budgets and the services
they provide to students.
Background: Twice in recent
years, courts have struck down conservative
lawmakers' school choice
policies. In 2022, the state supreme
court rejected a plan to spend public
funds on tax-credit scholarships
for private education. The following
year, a county circuit court judge
nixed lawmakers' attempt to provide
funding for charter schools.
Supporters of these proposals believe
a constitutional amendment
will bolster future efforts to promote
school choice.
NEBRASKA
The proposal: Voters will decide
whether to retain or repeal the state's
newly passed private school choice
program, which allocates $10 million
a year for parents to spend on
a wide range of private educational
expenses. A simple majority will determine
the existing law's fate.
The stakes: This initiative is the
only one on any state ballot this fall
that could, depending on the outcome,
immediately eliminate an
existing private school choice program.
Background:
At the start of 2024,
Nebraska had an entirely different
private school choice policy on the
books: the Opportunity Scholarships
Act, a tax-credit scholarship
program. Support Our Schools, the
coalition of public school advocates
behind Referendum 435, secured
space on the November ballot for
a different referendum that would
have undone the original program.
To skirt the potential challenge
from voters, lawmakers repealed the
Opportunity Scholarships Act and
replaced it with a similar program
with a lower cost. Funds for this
program's offerings to parents come
directly from state coffers rather
than relying on a tax-credit funding
mechanism. Support Our Schools
subsequently secured enough signatures
to put Referendum 435 on
the ballot, tasking voters with determining
whether Nebraska's second
iteration of private school choice
will stand or not.
Most recently, supporters of the
program tried to persuade the Nebraska
supreme court to knock the
new referendum off the ballot. But
the court ruled Sept. 13 that it should
stay on.
UTAH
The proposal: Voters will decide
whether to amend the state's
constitution so that the state can
invest income and some property
tax revenue " to be used for all state
needs, " rather than solely for public
education, higher education,
and services for children with disThe
stakes: Democratic lawmakers
contend that the wording
of the initiative may mislead voters
who choose " yes " into thinking
they're solely supporting public education
spending, when in fact they
would also support allowing money
that's currently spent largely on
public education to be spent on any
other priority as the state sees fit.
They've also raised concerns about
attaching the unrelated sales-tax
provision to passage of the amendment.
" They
are making voters who
vote 'no' feel bad about not wanting
to help hungry families, " Sarah
Reale, a member of Utah's state
board of education, told The Salt
Lake Tribune.
Lawmakers who support the proposed
amendments want to give
the state more flexibility to spend
tax revenue as needed. They also
want to codify in the constitution
the state's approach to school funding,
which accounts for enrollment
fluctuations and sets aside a certain
share of funding in a state savings
account that can only be used for
K-12 education.
Background: For most of the
20th century, Utah spent income
tax revenue solely on public K-12
education. In 1996, voters approved
opening up those funds to
higher education as well, and in
2020, they voted again to approve
also spending that money on services
for children with disabilities.
Since then, the state has also
poured more than $83 million into
a universal education savings account
program that provides families
with access to public money
that they can use on private education
expenses. The state teachers'
union is currently challenging that
program in court. Opponents of the
program fear it could be a target for
increased investment if the constitutional
amendment passes and income
tax revenue can be spent on
anything.
One more contest to watch
In Ohio, voters' choices for seats
on the state supreme court will determine
the court's partisan balance.
Victories in all three races for
Democrats would mean the court
would flip to Democratic control,
4-3. Victories in all three races for
Republicans would strengthen the
GOP's majority to 6-1.
That outcome could affect the
fate of the state's voucher program,
if a current legal challenge from
dozens of districts ends up before
the state supreme court. Republicans
tend to be more favorably inclined
toward private school choice
than Democrats.
EDUCATION WEEK | October 2, 2024 | www.edweek.org | 11
abilities, as the state constitution
currently authorizes. The initiative
would also enshrine the state's current
public school funding formula
in the state constitution and trigger
a law that would eliminate a 1.75
percent state sales tax on food. The
measure needs a simple majority of
voters to pass.
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Education Week - October 2, 2024

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