House Bill 1 is the tepid water, public education is the frog

House Republicans are celebrating their override of the veto of House Bill 1. Against incredible odds, they managed to whip up their supermajority and get enough votes to make the bill law.

Here is video of Cowboy Aaron Reed (R-Cosplay), and his Band of Idiots celebrating that victory with confetti poppers and bagpipes. What’s the opposite of a MENSA meeting?

Republicans have said that there is a lot of overwrought anger about this bill and that it doesn’t do the things people are claiming. For once, they seem mostly to be right. This isn’t a voucher bill. This doesn’t spend Kentucky tax dollars. But that doesn’t mean House Bill 1 isn’t a problem.

What does HB 1 do?

House Bill 1 opts Kentucky in to a Federal Tax Credit for Scholarship Granting Organizations.

An individual can make a donation of up to $1700 to a Scholarship Granting Organization for a dollar for dollar tax credit. This is different than the standard deduction, which merely reduces your taxable income.

These donations would create a pool of money for these Scholarship Granting Organizations to use fund scholarships for tuition and other educational expenses for students who apply for them.

On the face of it, while convoluted and lacking in hard details, it seems like a mostly harmless bill.

So why is HB 1 so bad?

As someone pointed out to me earlier in this legislative session, Republicans are in it for the long haul. When they can’t get what they want directly, they’re patient enough to build it piece by piece over time.

Republicans and special interest groups have tried for years to institute vouchers and other funding mechanisms to divert public funds to private schools. The resistance to these bills was swift and vocal. We frogs saw the water boiling and we weren’t jumping in.

House Bill 1 is a new pot of water. The Republicans want it to seem comfortable. It even may offer us some benefits while we hop around in it.

But a closer look at the people with the pot starts to clue us in as to what’s in store.

House Bill 1 is supported by several right wing groups who consistently attack public education and want to divert public funds to private schools. Among those groups are:

• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a long time supporter of privatization, has created model language for the ideas behind the bill.
• EdChoice, whose local arm has fought for years for vouchers, has stated their support.
• The American Federation For Children another far-right group, has described this program as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand scholarships for students in every state.”
• The State Policy Network, an organization of phony state level grassroots organizations that pushes right wing propaganda, has reflected its support at the local level via the Bluegrass Institute. One of their members, Gary Houchens, is a former member of Bevin’s Department of Education who has championed charters and vouchers for years.

In its current form, the bill is a convoluted way to divert public funds at a national level. The program itself is similar to what Kentucky tried to create with Educational Opportunity Accounts back in 2021’s HB 563, a bill heavily supported by these same right-wing groups. That bill allowed generous tax breaks for contributions to Educational Opportunity Accounts which then would be bounced back to students through Educational Opportunity Account organizations via reimbursement for private school tuition and other expenses. HB 563 was found to be unconstitutional back in back in 2022.

As we’ve seen for years, the groups supporting privatization are relentless. The fight to get privatization of education going in Kentucky can be traced back at least 15 years ago, when Hal Heiner and Wayne Lewis Jr. started a series of groups devoted to charters and vouchers. Under the Bevin Administration, Hal would become Chairman of the Board of Education and Wayne Lewis Jr. would serve as Education Commissioner on a board stacked with education privatization advocates, including the above mentioned Gary Houchens.

No matter how many times we work to get rid of them, these privatization advocates and their schemes keep coming back. As Trump and Kentucky Republicans work to erode safeguards and legal protections at the Federal and State level, these forces are no doubt looking toward a future where they can bring in vouchers, charters, and other privatization schemes via a legal back door.

So while the water’s fine right now, be looking for the heat to turn up in the next legislative session. House Bill 1 is just the foundation. There is certainly more evil to come for education in Kentucky’s future.

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