School choice amendment bill filed in Kentucky

(CNN NEWSOURCE) — “We’re going to have to change the Constitution to get any form of school choice,” said Rep. Kevin Bratcher (R-Louisville).

Bratcher is one of the co-sponsors of House Bill 208.

If passed, voters would vote this November to decide if they want to allow public tax dollars to be used for private schools.

“One size fits all doesn’t work with all children and lots of school choice alternatives are out there, but especially people in the middle class or lower class, they don’t have the ability,” he said.

But Louisville Democrat Tina Bojanowski says the promise of school choice won’t be delivered evenly.

“Those organizations, the private schools, they select their students. When my son was little, he had autism, I went to a private school, they said, ‘We don’t take children with autism,'” said Bojanowski.

And in the end, she says it will hurt public schools.

“What has happened, Wisconsin probably has had school choice the longest in the nation, and what they have found is that the total dollars available for traditional public schools goes down,” she added.

HB 208 specifies money for private schools shouldn’t be taken from the funds for public schools.

It also states the change would be for families of “limited means.”

Democrats aren’t the only ones opposed to school choice. Two previous school choice bills narrowly passed the House, despite a Republican supermajority.

“Because it will be a constitutional amendment, it will need 60 percent of the membership. So, nothing’s easy in Frankfort. It’s going to be a tough road. But I think people have seen it’s time for this to happen in Kentucky. We’re getting left behind,” said Bratcher.