ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Many states already have school voucher programs that allow tax money to be used for private schools. Supporters of so-called school choice put proposals on the ballot in three more states in this month's elections, and voters defeated all three. In Kentucky - where Donald Trump, who supports vouchers, won big - the amendment lost in every one of the state's 120 counties. Kentucky Public Radio's Sylvia Goodman reports on why.
SYLVIA GOODMAN, BYLINE: On Election Day, Tiara Fearrington was voting at a public school in Louisville's west end. She's the mother of two kids who graduated from public schools, with another three still there. She says her public schools have a lot of problems, but she still voted no on a proposal that could have helped her send her kids to private schools.
TIARA FEARRINGTON: Why should I have to want my kids in a private school when they should be able to have everything in their public schools that the private schools have and more?
GOODMAN: Amendment 2 would have changed Kentucky's constitution to allow tax dollars to go to private schools, parochial schools, home schools, charter schools. Similar programs exist in other states, and the idea in different forms is backed especially by Republicans in the state and nationally. Kentucky ads for the amendment invoked an ally, President-elect Donald Trump.
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DONALD TRUMP: We will give all parents the right to choose another school for their children if they want. It's called school choice.
GOODMAN: Big outside donors poured millions into the campaign, countering spending by teacher unions and other opponents. So why did it fail, with 65% of Kentuckians voting no? Tres Watson, a Republican political consultant in Kentucky, said the amendment would have passed if only people understood what it could do for them.
TRES WATSON: When one side messages, don't take money from public schools, and the other side has one group out here talking about vouchers and one group talking about scholarship accounts and one group talking about charter schools, whoever has the simplest messaging is usually going to win a fight like that.
GOODMAN: But ballot initiatives like the one in Kentucky have failed repeatedly. At the same time Kentucky rejected it, so did voters in Colorado and Nebraska. Josh Cowen with the New Jersey-based Education Law Center says voters in Kentucky knew what they were voting on.
JOSH COWEN: It was a very, very expensive ballot initiative, a lot of messaging on it. There's not a lot of confusion about what spending public dollars on private school tuition means.
GOODMAN: For one, it's a tough sell in rural Kentucky, where private schools are rare. Also, in some Kentucky counties, public schools are the largest employer, and teachers urged people to vote no, like Eddie Campbell, president of Kentucky's teacher union in an interview before the vote.
EDDIE CAMPBELL: This amendment's going to shift money from our small towns and our rural communities to these big urban areas.
GOODMAN: But it also lost in urban areas, where some voters wanted to shore up the existing school system rather than invest in a new one. It even lost in some suburbs that have private schools. Kentucky GOP Senate President Robert Stivers says he's moving on from amending the constitution but isn't done trying to change things up.
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ROBERT STIVERS: The public has spoken. They've said they don't like that pathway, so we're going to look at other pathways to have accountability and performance in poorly performing school districts.
GOODMAN: It's unclear what supporters of the amendment could try next. Kentucky courts have struck down attempts at charter schools and a scholarship tax credit. But education policy professor at the University of Arkansas Patrick Wolf says supporters could still pursue other avenues that might not run afoul of the state constitution.
PATRICK WOLF: It seems like it's inevitable - right? - because right now you're a school choice donut hole. So you're sort of an island of no choice in a sea of school choice.
GOODMAN: That's right. Nearly every state bordering Kentucky has some way to help parents pay for private school tuition. Despite the outcome of the votes in Kentucky, Colorado and Nebraska, pressure for vouchers is likely to continue. For NPR News, I'm Sylvia Goodman in Louisville, Kentucky. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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