FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky House of Representatives voted on Monday to override Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of House Bill 1, a bill that would allow students to receive tuition and other education assistant through privately funded scholarships.
The bill would allow those individuals who donate to Scholarship Granting Organizations to receive a federal tax credit of up to $1,700, and those SGOs would the distribute the money to students through scholarships.
"Critics, however, argue the bill is another attempt to support school choice options at the expense of public schools, a concern rooted in years of school choice battles in Kentucky," LEX 18's Karolina Buczek previously reported. "Lawmakers have previously attempted to create funding mechanisms that would send Kentucky dollars to non-traditional public schools, including a state tax credit program for scholarships that public education advocates opposed as a diversion of public school funding."
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The measure now heads to the Kentucky Senate.
“HB 1 allows Kentucky students to benefit from scholarships funded through a federal tax credit," the Kentucky House Majority Caucus said in a release. "It does so without costing the Commonwealth a single dollar. Because Kentuckians can already donate in other states and receive the same federal tax credit, failing to enact this program would have continued sending Kentucky dollars to educate students elsewhere instead of helping families here at home."
Beshear previously said that the reason behind his veto lies within the Kentucky Constitution, because of the requirement that state dollars should stay within public education.
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"Our Kentucky Constitution has a specific provision that requires 'voter approval' for such dollars to be used elsewhere," Beshear said in a release on March 13. "In 2024, our General Assembly followed the required process, asking the people of Kentucky if they wanted to spend public dollars on private or charter schools. The answer was a resounding no. The effort was defeated by 30 points. That was the same margin of victory as Donald Trump in Kentucky. It was rejected in all 120 counties, both rural and urban, by significant margins."
Kentucky Politics
