Kentucky Governor Vetoes School Choice Bill
CV NEWS FEED // Gov. Andy Beshear, D-KY, vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have granted parents and their children more freedom in education choices.
Student advocates decried the veto.
“We are discouraged by Governor Beshear’s decision to put powerful special interests before children and families in Kentucky,” American Federation for Children CEO Tommy Schultz said in a statement.
“It is a shame to see the Governor fold to the pressures of the unions time and time again,” Schultz added later in the statement. “Now is the time to come together and do what is right for the children in Kentucky. We urge the legislature to stand up for kids and override this veto.”
Corey DeAngelis, Executive Director of the Educational Freedom Institute, pointed out that Gov. Beshear’s own children attend private school. “I’m glad his family had that opportunity,” DeAngelis wrote on Twitter. “But why fight against school choice for others?”
Beshear claimed that the bill would “greatly harm public education in Kentucky by taking money away from public schools.” “Why would giving families a choice harm public schools,” DeAngelis asked. “And why was it okay for his family to ‘take money’ from public schools when he chose private?”
In a series of tweets, DeAngelis went on to argue that allowing “families to choose their grocery store doesn’t ‘take money away’ from Safeway,” and neither does allowing families to choose their school “‘take money away’ from public schools.”
“Education funding is meant for educating children – not for protecting a particular institution,” DeAngelis concluded. “We should fund students, not systems.”