The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) issued a formal demand letter to a Kentucky school district on Wednesday, calling for an immediate halt to its illegal use of taxpayer funds to lobby against a proposed ballot measure.
The letter also alleges that the district is selectively blocking constituents on social media to stifle criticism and urges it to cease its violations of the First Amendment.
According to LJC, the Augusta Independent School District violated Kentucky election law on October 1 by posting messages on its official Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) pages encouraging voters to “Vote NO on Amendment 2,” a proposed measure on the November 5 ballot.
If passed, Amendment 2 would enhance educational opportunities across the state by allowing the Kentucky General Assembly to provide financial aid to students outside the public school system, according to LJC.
Kentucky law prohibits the use of public resources, such as official school social media accounts, websites, or staff time, for political advocacy on ballot measures. These actions constitute illegal election interference under the law, and Kentucky Supreme Court precedent allows taxpayers to take legal action in such cases.
In addition to election law violations, LJC says the district also infringed on First Amendment rights by disabling public comments on posts related to the Amendment 2 lobbying effort, effectively censoring dissenting voices. This amounted to content-based and viewpoint-based discrimination, both of which are prohibited under the First Amendment.
The Liberty Justice Center’s letter notified the district that the Attorney General had been informed of its election law and First Amendment violations. The letter demanded the removal of all electioneering posts within 48 hours.
Following the letter, the district reopened public comments on its posts but has yet to remove the electioneering messages.
“Using taxpayer resources to lobby against Amendment 2 isn’t just a violation of Kentucky election law—it’s also an attempt to deny educational opportunity to children across the state,” said Dean McGee, Senior Counsel for Educational Freedom at the Liberty Justice Center
The Liberty Justice Center has previously intervened in similar cases of illegal electioneering in Texas, where their efforts led to the first-ever indictments of school officials for misusing public resources for political purposes in Denton and Harris counties.
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