Voters in Colorado, Kentucky and Nebraska last week put the brakes on the school choice movement, rejecting ballot measures that would have established or expanded federal support for parents to send their children to private schools or protected other school choice options.
There are at least 75 private school choice programs in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to EdChoice, a group that supports such programs. And the movement had gained momentum.
Public school systems and teachers unions largely oppose voucher programs that operate taxpayer money to support private school education because the programs take money away from public schools. Many opponents also point out that private schools may not have the same accreditation requirements and curriculum as public schools.
EdChoice, in a Nov. 6 statement, blamed teachers unions’ influence on the vote’s outcome, calling the union opposition a “juggernaut with money to burn.”
Nebraska
In Nebraska, voters partially eliminated a state-funded private school scholarship program.
A 2024 law, an update of a similar law passed in 2023, provided $10 million annually for the program. Proponents of the allocation argued that parents dissatisfied with their public schools needed state money to support fund private education. But opposition came from both rural and urban public school advocates, according to the Nebraska Examiner reported. The repeal was approved with 57% of the vote.
Nebraska state Sen. Dave Murman, a school choice supporter who identifies as a Republican in the bipartisan Legislature, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the outcome. He acknowledged that public schools are popular in Nebraska.
“That’s why we’ve had advocates for public schools across the state,” he said. But he argued that students would benefit from private school options and said he plans to continue the fight.
Kentucky
In Kentucky, the ballot measure would have amended the constitution to allow public funding of private education. Around 65% of voters rejected the attempt to change the state constitution to this effect; it went down in every county.
The measure was supported by Republican lawmakers and strongly opposed by public school advocates and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. He said the result was a message from voters (*3*)augment funding for the state’s public schools.
Previous GOP-led efforts to legalize school choice had failed, with courts overturning a 2021 law granting tax credits for donations to private school scholarship funds and a 2022 law restricting public funding to charter schools would have created, would have abolished.
According to State Senator Damon Thayer, a Republican and robust supporter of the referendum, the language of the ballot initiative would have given the Legislature the authority to pass legislation similar to the one that was defeated, he told Stateline.
He said the arguments that the change would have harmed public and particularly rural schools were simply “totally false.” These disasters promoted by the doubters have not come to fruition [in other states]”he said.
Colorado
Colorado’s ballot measure would have enshrined school choice in the state constitution.
The proposed amendment, which was defeated 52% to 48%, would have added language stating that “every K-12 child has the right to school choice” and that “parents have the right to direct their children’s education “. School choice would specifically include neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools, open enrollment options and future innovations in education, the measure says.
The conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado supported the change.
Colorado already allows students to attend any public school for free — even outside their district — and has long offered the option to attend charter schools. Critics of the ballot measure said it would have opened the door to private school vouchers, although advocates said that was not their intent and that the ballot measure was intended simply to protect charter schools.
Charter schools, however, have largely skipped the choice. The Christian Home Educators of Colorado against it The measure was defeated in part because it would have guaranteed “quality education” without defining what that meant.
Texas
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a longtime supporter of school vouchers, said cheered the elections of similar-minded state Republicans whom he had supported in the primaries.
Abbott said during a recent visit to a Christian school that these novel members would give him enough votes to pass a school voucher program when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
