CNA Staff October 15, 2024 / 5:05 p.m

As Election Day approaches, three states will decide on school choice policies.

Colorado and Kentucky have ballot amendments to promote school choice, while Nebraska has introduced a ballot measure that could repeal a recent school choice grant program.

The ballot measures in Colorado and Kentucky, if passed, would enshrine school choice as a right and lay the foundation for legislation to implement school choice programs.

Catholic students often benefit from school choice programs. In 2023, the National Catholic Educational Association found that 13.7% of Catholic students use school choice programs to make it easier to attend a Catholic school.

Repeal school choice in Nebraska

A ballot measure to repeal a new school choice scholarship voucher program is set to vote in Nebraska in November.

The School Choice Program provides scholarships to students who wish to attend qualified private schools, including parochial schools. The focus is on students in foster care, students who are bullied or harassed, students who need special education, and low-income and socially disadvantaged students. Middle class families. Students can apply for and receive private school scholarships through scholarship organizations.

Rachel Terry, founder of School Choice Nebraska, said the program helps low-income families.

“Nebraska’s tax credit scholarship program allows students from lower-income families to access educational alternatives when their local public schools are not meeting their needs,” Terry told CNA. “Without this program, many of these students will not have the financial resources to attend private schools that may better serve them.”

If passed, low-income students would be hit hardest because the repeal would “limit these families' educational choices and potentially require students to return to schools that previously did not meet their needs,” she said.

“In Nebraska, the rich already have options: They can use their property taxes to pay for private school tuition in addition to public schools. Wealthy families will not feel the pain of losing the program,” Terry said. “The children who will suffer are the most vulnerable children in the state.”

Enshrining school choice in Colorado and Kentucky

Colorado Amendment 80 would enshrine a right to school choice in the state constitution.

Colorado students can currently apply to public schools outside their district or to charter schools. The school choice amendment would enshrine a “right to school choice” for K-12 students in the constitution.

Amendment 80 defines school choice as “neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools, open enrollment opportunities, and future innovations in education.”

The change would give parents “the right to determine their children’s education” while ensuring that all children “have the right to equal opportunities to access a quality education.”

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Proponents argue that the ballot measure would protect school choice, such as charter schools, in the future, while opponents say school choice could defund public schools.

Kentucky Amendment 2, the Education Opportunities Constitution Amendment, would allow the state to provide federal funding to students outside of public schools. Charter schools in Kentucky are currently permitted but not funded.

The Kentucky Constitution only allows state funds to be used for “common schools,” which are generally understood to mean public schools. If passed, the amendment would specifically allow the administration to provide “financial assistance for the education of students outside the public school system” to K-12 students, according to the amendment text.

Supporters of the amendment argue that it would put education decisions in the hands of parents, while opponents say it paves the way for funding for private institutions.