Schools can’t use public funds to campaign against ‘school choice’ amendment, Ky. AG says

The Kentucky attorney general says public schools can’t use tax dollars or other public resources to try to sway voters in the debate over “school choice.”

Attorney General Russell Coleman issued an advisory Tuesday night saying “public resources may not be used to advocate for or against Amendment 2.”

If voters approve the amendment, it would change the state constitution to allow lawmakers the option to fund private and charter schools in the future. That is prohibited by the constitution as it is now written.

Coleman’s statement comes after the Pulaski County Board of Education received criticism this week for online posts urging people to vote against the proposed amendment.

Coleman wrote in the advisory that his office “is continuing to monitor reports from across the Commonwealth regarding this topic and is committed to ensuring that public officials observe the constitutional and statutory limitations prohibiting the use of public resources in connection with the pending ballot questions.

“The Office is prepared to take any necessary action within its authority to ensure these constitutional and statutory limitations are upheld,” he wrote.

Coleman said state law, a previous AG opinion and policies governing school boards all prohibit the use of public resources to advance a political agenda.

“While the First Amendment clearly protects the rights of public school officials, administrators, and educators to express their views on any public matter, they may not use school resources or school time to advance those personal views,” Coleman wrote.

State Rep. Candy Massaroni, a Bardstown Republican, and T.J. Roberts, a GOP candidate for state representative in Northern Kentucky, had both asked the attorney general to give an opinion on the issue.

The Kentucky School Boards Association, which opposes the amendment, had said “there is gray area between the use of public funds for lobbying — which is legal — versus use of public funds for what statute refers to as ‘political activity.’”