Hoping to build off the momentum of a new school choice law, two Republican lawmakers announced Thursday their plans to file legislation that would expand private school tuition assistance to every county in Kentucky and raise the income eligibility threshold for families.

The new bills focus on four key reforms to grow school choice in Kentucky, according to the school choice advocacy group EdChoice Kentucky.

They would expand access to private school tuition assistance to students in every county and not just the most populous, increase income eligibility levels, create a provision for automatically increasing the cap for donations and make technical changes to the law that, in the advocates’ words, “take into account the burdensome delays caused by an anti-school choice lawsuit.”

“It’s time for parents to truly have a choice in their children’s education,” state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, said during a news conference Thursday in the state Capitol annex.

Alvarado told reporters in Frankfort that he hoped to build on the foundation created by the Education Opportunity Account Act, which was enacted last year under House Bill 563.

After narrowly passing out of the Kentucky House, the law was later vetoed by Gov. Andy Beshear, but the General Assembly overrode that move in March.

Last year’s school choice law, Alvarado said, extends financial assistance to the families of more than 400,000 Kentucky students and also helps with the cost of textbooks, supplies, tutors and transportation to school.

State Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, said he planned to introduce legislation in the Kentucky House that will largely mirror Alvarado’s bill, with some changes.

That includes expanding the household income eligibility threshold, which would extend the benefit to upper-income families.

“This doesn’t just make a statement,” Calloway said at the news conference. “This affects people’s lives. It changes people’s lives.”

Still, reforms to the Kentucky school choice law face an obstacle in the form of an ongoing legal challenge brought by the Kentucky Council for Better Education advocacy group.

In October, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that Kentucky’s constitution prohibits the element of House Bill 563 that enables scholarship tax credits for private school tuition. He later clarified that his ruling does not apply to the separate provision of the law that more easily allows students to attend public schools outside of their residential school district.

The Kentucky Education Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the bills Thursday.

Joshua Shoulta, director of communications for the Kentucky School Boards Association, said the KSBA continues to oppose any new or expanded tax expenditures, “be they credits, deductions or exemptions – that potentially siphon from the state’s general fund. Once the legislation is filed, KSBA will carefully review it with our membership.”