Editor’s note: With this commentary, reimaginED welcomes its newest guest blogger, Garris Stroud, an educator, writer and education choice advocate from Greenville, Kentucky.
When Kentucky lawmakers made their successful push for education opportunity accounts (EOAs) in 2021, the Bluegrass State finally seemed poised to expand educational choice where there had once been none. But there was a catch.
Kentucky’s EOA program would have provided tax credits to individuals who donated to state-approved account granting organizations. From there, the funds would flow to low-income and some middle-class families for various education expenses, including tutoring, extracurricular activities, and in some cases, non-public school tuition—but only for families in counties with more than 90,000 people.
EOAs have since been blocked in the Bluegrass State by a Franklin Circuit Court judge, though an appeal effort and possible Kentucky Supreme Court showdown are looming. But despite the program’s initial failure to launch, reinvigorated efforts from the Kentucky General Assembly could lead to greater choice for all of Kentucky’s families, including those in rural communities.
Choice for all families
Seeming confident that Kentucky’s EOA program will eventually get the green light, Sen. Ralph Alvarado and Rep. Josh Calloway have introduced new bills that would expand the program by raising the income eligibility cap and eliminating the population qualifier. This would lead to more families gaining access to the accounts, regardless of income or ZIP code.
“Instead of only helping students in the most populous counties, this bill gives students in every part of our state the chance to pick the right school, public or nonpublic,” Alvarado said in a recent news conference.
If successful, Kentucky’s revamped EOA program would help tackle a goal that few have tried and even fewer have accomplished: making school choice a kitchen table issue in rural communities.
The 90,000+ population cap featured in the 2021 legislation would have limited non-public school tuition to students in Jefferson and Fayette counties, areas where schooling options abound, at least compared to their rural counterparts. This shift, however, would ensure that educational opportunity is no longer an exclusively urban privilege.
It matters because every family, urban or rural, deserves an opportunity to provide their children with an excellent education. With the population cap lifted, families from every corner of the state could use these funds to enroll their children in the school they feel is the best fit, public or private.
Whether it be a single mom in Louisville looking to offset the cost of private school tuition, or a family in Eastern Kentucky seeking a different learning environment for their child across county lines, EOAs could help provide access to the funds that families need.
Will Kentucky’s EOA program withstand challenges?
These outcomes all depend on whether Kentucky’s EOA program can withstand the legal challenges now embroiling it, meaning Kentucky families seeking access to those funds are at a standstill for the time being.
In the decision that voided Kentucky’s original EOA legislation, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the pool of tax credits used for the accounts would violate the Kentucky Constitution, which argues that funds cannot be used for education purposes “other than in common schools until the question of taxation has been submitted to the legal voters.”
In other words, the ruling rests entirely on the notion that Kentucky’s EOA program would amount to public funds being used to support private schools. But supporters of the program say that isn’t the case.
The Institute for Justice is one such group, and its attorneys have argued that Shepherd’s ruling only makes sense if the pool of tax credits for the program came directly from state appropriations. But EOAs would not rely on such appropriations; the program would be funded by private donors who give donations in exchange for tax credits.
“Today’s ruling treats private donations as if they are government money,” Institute for Justice attorney Joshua House said in a statement. “It holds that when private individuals donate their own money to education-related causes, and receive tax credits for those donations, it is in effect the government raising and spending money on education. That’s just wrong.”
House’s argument may prove to be the backbone of the appeal effort, which school choice groups promise will soon be underway. From there, it would not be unexpected for the case to make it all the way to the Kentucky Supreme Court, setting up the ultimate showdown over school choice in the Bluegrass State.
But until that happens, the Kentucky Department of Revenue remains under an order to cease from the administration of all programs established by the bill, forcing families to play the waiting game yet again. When the time comes, let’s hope the decision puts students over politics and positions Kentucky children on the path to a brighter future.
