Let us break it down. Kentucky’s public schools are what they have always done—educating every kid, no matter the challenges. Disabilities, language barriers, race, creed—all are welcome, no questions asked.

Enter Amendment 2, which is being sold as a way to give families more choices in education.

Sounds good, right?

But wait—it is not the families who get to choose. It is the private schools that get to decide which students make the cut, with no real oversight on how they operate.

The Kentucky Association of School Administrators, which represents school leaders in every Kentucky county, believes Amendment 2 is bad news. KASA believes it threatens our public schools, it threatens our communities, and it is going to hit our wallets.

Public schools are already in a tight spot when it comes to funding. Amendment 2 could take those already scarce resources and funnel them into private schools, leaving public schools to struggle even more.

Plus it gives the General Assembly a free pass to ignore constitutional mandates about equitable public school funding.

In other states with similar programs, most of these vouchers are being used by kids from middle- and upper-income families—the ones already enrolled in private schools with no intention of ever stepping foot in a public one.

For rural areas—where private schools are not even an option—this amendment would be brutal. Public funds would get sucked out and local property taxes would likely go up as school districts try to make up for the revenue.

Come November, think carefully about the unintended consequences.