On this episode, Tuthill talks with the majority whip of the Kentucky House of Representatives who carried a landmark education choice bill, HB 563, to passage this legislative session and then participated in an override of a gubernatorial veto. The bill creates a new tax credit funded program in Kentucky called the Education Opportunity Scholarship.
The two discuss the multi-year political struggle to create the program and the power of teacher unions in Kentucky’s rural areas. McCoy shares his conviction that because district schools often are the biggest employer in rural areas, the outsized influence of the unions kept the bill from becoming law until this legislative session.
Tuthill and McCoy also discuss the politics behind Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto and how public school districts are eligible to participate in the program.
“Parents around the state recognized the need across the board … and their God-given right. (They realized) it is my kid. Why don’t I have a choice?”
EPISODE DETAILS:
· HB 563 and what it does for education in Kentucky
· The politics behind the bill and how the realities of COVID-19 helped it finally become law
· The theory of unbundling services and how to create greater equity for families who have less access to resources
· Future legislation and the goals for education choice expansion
