By Damaris Allen and Beth Lewis
As parents from Florida and Arizona, we have seen firsthand the devastating impact of publicly funded school vouchers. We offer a gloomy cautionary tale to Kentuckians so that you can understand why passing Amendment 2 and allowing similar programs in Kentucky would be a terrible idea.
Arizona and Florida have the dubious distinction of being considered “#1 in school choice” by the dark money special interests that have spent millions to push vouchers in our states. This means our public schools are underfunded in service of private school vouchers. Rural students and low-income families have fewer quality choices, while richer suburban families use vouchers as a coupon for the private education they were already paying for. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent with no accountability, no transparency and no return on investment.
Arizona is now reeling from the impacts of universal vouchers, which are set to siphon more than $1 billion out of our local public schools this school year. School districts are forced to make horrific decisions between shutting down schools, laying off hundreds of teachers, slashing bus routes or firing counselors or social workers. Arizona class sizes are growing, while our buildings and buses fall into disrepair. Just this Spring, our Attorney General announced major cases of fraud, in which hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from the voucher program.
Florida spends over $4 billion of taxpayer money annually on private schools and homeschool students. Almost 70 percent of the schools are not accredited, requiring parents to check with their students’ prospective colleges to ensure their diplomas will even be accepted. In Florida, homeschool families who receive vouchers are free to purchase large-screen TVs, paddleboards, vacations and other extravagant items, while public schools don’t have basic school supplies, such as paper and pencils. To reduce costs, our traditional public schools have class sizes bursting at the seams, fewer enrichment programs and limited access to accelerated courses.
You can expect what happened in Florida and Arizona to happen over time in Kentucky if Amendment 2 passes. Voucher lobbyists are solely interested in forcing through publicly funded vouchers to eventually dismantle the public school system and privatize all schools. They like to start small, but once the voucher door has opened, it’s almost impossible to close, and millions will be spent lobbying to expand it each year. Passing Amendment 2 would be the start of that process in Kentucky by erasing the state constitution’s prohibition on spending public dollars for private schools all in the name of “school choice” — but in our states, it’s clearly the private schools doing the choosing, while the public schools we choose are starved.
Let our states’ unfortunate experience with vouchers be a red flag for the Bluegrass State. Don’t be hoodwinked by slick marketing. Unaccountable voucher schemes are not academically or financially viable. Opening the door to vouchers would be a big mistake for Kentucky students and their families. Keep the promise of public education; we promise Kentucky families will be better off.
Damaris Allen is the executive director of Families for Strong Public Schools, a Florida public school graduate, and a parent of public school children. Beth Lewis is the executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, an Arizona educator, and a parent of public school children.
This column ran in the Lexington Herald Leader on September 24.
