53 days before Election Day.

Both sides are working overtime for and against Amendment number two, which, if passed, could open up school choice options in the Commonwealth.

Our June LaFleur caught up with proponents and opponents of that ballot question That's before Kentucky voters this November.

The campaign to pass Amendment two is revved up and heading the road.

We have a goal of reaching 225,000 people just at Dawes.

The conservative group Americans for Prosperity pushes school choice laws across the nation.

But Kentucky poses a new challenge.

Well, obviously, we've not had to go through a ballot initiative in any other state but Kentucky, which is not the ideal way to have to go about this.

That means selling a message not just to lawmakers, but all the voters they represent.

We know that there are problems in education and our state.

We know that math and reading proficiency is not where it should be.

And we know that with more options in education, that a lot of those things can be addressed.

AFP explains those options at a Q&A in Oldham County.

How many of you have read the amendments in its language?

Okay, good.

We have a lot of people who have.

That's great.

A state lawmaker supports Charter schools.

The General Assembly has already approved them, but Kentucky courts have blocked them.

They would fall underneath all of the standards of our state testing.

They would fall underneath all of the KDE guidelines.

However, they would not fall under all of the red tape that we have in our public schools.

They would have a little bit more freedom.

But AFP stays away from an arguably more controversial school choice mechanism.

I don't know why this keeps being called the voucher amendment.

This amendment allows us to begin moving legislation forward and funding statutes that already exist.

If vouchers are going to come, it's going to come way down the road.

An education policy expert says vouchers are a disaster.

Over the last decade, vouchers have caused some of the worst academic declines we've seen on any research question on anything in the education research community.

School vouchers most often provide public dollars to help pay for a student's private school tuition.

It's important to know that 70% of voucher users in state after state after state were already in private school to begin with.

But for the 25% or 30% or so of kids who do transfer from public to private school, you do see these record academic declines on their on their academic outcomes.

And there's a reason for that.

The reason is that the schools that have open seats to take those transfers tend to be what I call sub prime providers.

They're they have open seats for a reason.

A political action committee tied to Rand Paul released this ad in Kentucky.

Vote yes on Amendment two for educational freedom.

Josh Cohen, who wrote the book The Private Tears How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, says political messaging around parents choice is misleading.

When it comes to these voucher plans.

It's not school choice.

It's the schools choice.

The schools do the picking.

Nothing in any of the legislation in any state right now that's passed a voucher system compels those private schools to take your kid.

You're still on your own.

You still have to find a school that will allow you to use that voucher there.

But advocates say this won't open the floodgates.

Kentuckians can set their standards.

You know, we're trying to talk to people at events, community gatherings about what the different types of school choice options there are.

And I think it will be important for constituents to talk to their legislators about what they want to see.

Kentucky's General Assembly hasn't touched vouchers per se.

Lawmakers did approve a privately funded scholarship system that offered tax credits to donors.

The Kentucky Supreme Court blocked that in 2022.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.