KY House and Senate override Gov. Beshear’s veto on school choice bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Kentucky House and Senate vote to override Governor Beshear’s veto on school choice bill.

As Kentucky lawmakers worked to override Governor Beshear’s vetoes on Monday…two education bills were up for debate.

The controversial school choice bill would allow students to switch districts and let funding follow them.

It would also allow money from education accounts to be used to pay private tuition in certain counties, including Fayette.

Opponents say it would take money away from public schools and ultimately hurt them.

“We need more resources not fewer this takes away from them” said Democratic Rep. Patti Minter of Bowling Green.

Supporters say parents and students deserve a choice on where to go to school.

“We owe the low income people a choice to make that they don’t have today” said Republican Rep. Jerry Miller of Eastwood.

The veto override passed in the House 51 to 42.

The school choice bill override also passed in the Senate on Monday where debate between supporters and opponents was tense.

“To say that as a body we are adequately or even as perhaps my colleague implied, overfunding education in this state is ludicrous when literally we do not have textbooks in the classrooms” said Democratic Sen. Karen Berg of Louisville.

But those in support of the bill like Republican Senator Ralph Alvarado of Winchester say they are tired of a false narrative being told of the bill.

“The employment opportunity accounts afforded in this bill is a total of 25 million dollars not just for private schools for public and private schools so maybe there’s people here who haven’t read the bill or read the information in the bill, but both private and public schools are eligible for those funds”

The override passed in the Senate 23 to 14.

Following the passage of the overrides, outpours of statements were released from different organizations. The Institute of Justice announced that “it stands ready to defend against an anticipated legal challenge to Kentucky’s newly enacted Education Opportunity Account (EOA) Program by opponents of educational choice”

EdChoice KY President Charles Leis released a statement saying in part “With passage of House Bill 563, our Commonwealth joins each of our neighboring states in ensuring more students, no matter their income level, have choice and freedom in education. “
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The other bill would place newly hired teachers into a hybrid retirement system…requiring teachers hired in 2022 to work longer and contribute more to their pensions.

“I’m sorry future teachers that you’re having to watch your future benefits get cut, I’m sorry your retirement will be ten percent less than the current generation of retirees” said Rep. Patti Minter.

Lawmakers were passionate on each side.

“The KASS and the Department of Education asked the Governor not to veto this bill and instead he elected to veto it without any input to the process which we have been doing for over a year” said Republican Rep. C Ed Massey of Florence.

The override of Governor Beshear’s veto of the teacher pension bill passed 63 to 31.

Some observers think at least the school choice bill could end up in court.