Four different political action committees in support of Kentucky’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow public funds to go toward private K-12 education have reported spending significantly more to influence voters than the lone group that’s opposing the referendum.
“School choice” advocates supporting Amendment 2 have reported spending at least $4.5 million on TV ads, digital advertising, radio ads, mailers and canvassing, while anti-amendment Protect Our Schools Kentucky reported spending $2.6 million on similar outreach, as of this week.
The Kentucky General Assembly passed a bill this year to place the referendum on the November ballot. Voters will decide whether the state constitution should be amended to “provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools,” meaning public K-12 schools. If approved by voters, the legislature could later decide the specifics of how funding would be directed to education at private or charter schools.
Proponents of the amendment argue it will provide more choice to parents on where to send their kids to school and improve student outcomes. Opponents say it would allow the legislature to siphon funds away from public schools and towards private school vouchers, which would cut teacher salaries.
Most of the spending in the fight over Amendment 2 started in September and will likely top the expensive battle over an anti-abortion constitutional amendment in 2022. Two groups spent more than $7 million on ads in Kentucky that year about the amendment, which was defeated by 6 percentage points.
Amendment 2 supporters
The largest spender in support of Amendment 2 is Protect Freedom PAC, a federal PAC that has been almost entirely funded in recent years by Jeff Yass, a billionaire financial investor from Pennsylvania. Yass is one of the largest campaign donors to Republicans in the country — including in Kentucky. He helped bankroll PACs that spent $8 million to elect Daniel Cameron in the 2023 race for governor. Yass is an outspoken supporter of school choice initiatives.
Protect Freedom PAC has already spent millions of dollars on TV and radio ads across the state since early September, with its newest ads featuring GOP Sen. Rand Paul. A 1981 graduate of Brazoswood High School, a public school south of Houston, Tx., Paul opens by telling viewers “don’t believe the lies,” saying the amendment “doesn’t cut any funds from public schools” and suggesting it could actually increase such funding.
Unlike local committees that have to report fundraising and expenditures to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF), Protect Freedom PAC files with the Federal Election Commission and will not have to report its exact spending totals in the state until later this month. However, a representative of Protect Our Schools Kentucky said they have tracked $2.6 million of ads from the conservative PAC, nearly all of which are TV ads.
Kentucky Students First is another group that is spending big in support of the amendment. The group’s report with KREF this week showed it has now spent nearly $1.6 million on mailers and digital ads.
Some of the PAC’s mailers claim the amendment “provides additional funds for teacher pay” and “invests more money into our public education system” — which opponents have called blatant falsehoods.
The top funders of Kentucky Students First remain the Kentucky Education Freedom Fund, Inc. — a new so-called dark money 501(c)(4) nonprofit headed by the CEO of EdChoice Kentucky — and several northern Kentucky businessmen. The group received a $100,000 contribution from Kentuckians for Progress, a nonprofit run by Louisville developer David Nicklies, an outspoken critic of Jefferson County Public Schools and its teachers union, according to its newest campaign finance report.
The Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative advocacy group, also reported this week spending $264,917 in support of Amendment 2, with nearly all of that going towards mailers and canvassing fliers door-to-door. The mailers for this group also claim a yes vote will provide “teacher pay raises & more resources.”
A new PAC formed last week called Empower Kentucky Parents started airing digital ads featuring former President Donald Trump. In the ad, Trump briefly expresses his general support for “school choice,” then the narrator says: “Trump supports school choice, so should you.” Trump remains relatively popular in Kentucky, winning blowout victories in Kentucky in 2016 and 2020 and expected to have another this year.
Despite airing digital ads before the latest KREF deadline, the filing this week of Empower Kentucky Parents reported that it had not raised or spent any funds.
Amendment 2 opponents
Carrying the burden of the Amendment 2 opponents is Protect Our Schools Kentucky, which reported this week spending $2.6 million on TV, radio, digital and mail ads. The PAC’s ads have said if Amendment 2 passes it will lead to cuts in public school funding and teacher salaries, highlighting where this has happened in other states that have a private school voucher system.
Protect Our Schools has spent nearly $1.6 million on TV ads, with $1 million spent on digital ads and mailers.
The group’s latest KREF filing report shows it has raised more than $3 million, mostly from teacher unions — $2.4 million from the National Education Association and $250,000 each from the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association.
Kentuckians for Public Education, Inc. — another anti-amendment PAC that is run by Eric Hyers, the top political strategist for Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — has not yet reported raising or spending any funds. Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman oppose Amendment 2, as do many superintendents around the state.
The final KREF pre-election reporting deadline for state political committees is Oct. 23.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
