Opponents of education freedom were thrilled by the defeat in November’s election of Amendment 2, which would have enabled the state legislature to fund some private school choice options for Kentucky’s youth. They claim the vote proves Kentuckians only support spending for public schools and don’t favor allowing tax dollars to fund any nonpublic educational alternatives.

Are opponents' views on Amendment 2 correct? Was this really a vote for public schools, or was another dynamic at play?

We’re unaware of any post-election surveys that fully answer that question, but Bluegrass Institute Scholar Dr. John Garen spotted something interesting in one county’s election results that offers clues about what really drove the Amendment 2 vote. Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t support for Kentucky public education system.

Here’s what Dr. Garen found as summarized in the clips below from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s web site. The clips cover the votes in Bath County on two issues: Amendment 2, and a separate item asking voter approval for a tax increase for the county’s public school system that was too large for the local board of education to approve on its own.

Notice that while 66% in Bath County were voting against the school choice amendment in November an even higher proportion voted against an increase in school taxes for public schools.

At least in Bath County, the vote against Amendment 2 was more against higher taxes rather than opposing school choice funding that might include some private options. Education-freedom opponents made a lot of noise about how passing Amendment 2 would lead to higher taxes (which isn’t at all certain, but that’s a subject for another blog). Opponents definitely scared people with that tactic, but the circumstances in Bath County indicate that the actual Amendment 2 voting was driven by opposition to higher taxes, not school choice.

There’s even more evidence about this from Bath County. The local school board really wanted the tax increase, so they called for another vote on the school tax issue in January 2025. The results of this second attempt are covered by WKYT in Bath County voters make decision on ‘Nickel Tax’.

WKYT’s article states:

Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected the tax with 1,344 votes against and 282 votes for, Bath County clerk Rogie Coyle reports.

That works out to an even higher rejection rate – 83%, against increasing taxes for the school system compared to the 73% against vote from November 2024.

So, was the Amendment 2 vote driven by anti-tax rather than pro-public education sentiment? That seems likely to be the case in Bath County, at least. And, with Kentuckians up and down the state reeling from economic challenges like massive inflation, it might well be that the situation in Bath County was typical across the commonwealth.

While we’re not aware of any other local school tax votes on the November ballot, what happened in Bath County indicates citizens are highly disinterested in higher taxes, period – including for public education. Their general opinion about school choice might not have been a player in November. In fact, polling has consistently indicated that Kentuckians across the political spectrum support the idea of allowing parents to choose the education that best fits their children’s needs.

If the school choice policy can be presented in a way that users understand is a tax-neutral approach, a future vote on choice might look quite different from what happened in 2024. –Richard G. Innes

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