As Kentucky lawmakers finalized an override of Gov. Matt Bevin’s veto of a state spending plan that increases education funding with the help of a more than $480 million tax increase, teachers want more. Rallies across the commonwealth took place Friday, including in Murray.
Retired Teacher Ken Wolf:
“I don’t think the legislators, Kenny Imes and the others, really understood that our major concern as retired teachers was not just ourselves, not just that we needed our cost of living increases but our main concern was these young people coming up and making the teaching profession attractive to them.”
“This pension system that they’ve set up for new teachers does not allow a person who makes a relatively low salary to save enough for retirement. They think it’s wonderful because it’s better than the horrible plan that they announced in November, but it doesn’t do the job.
“Public education is where people learn to be citizens. If we continue this division where every little group has its own school, whether it be a religious school or a school setup to preserve white privilege, we aren’t going to learn how to be citizens. Citizenship means that we all feel a connection to the country that transcends, goes beyond our individual religion, our individual loyalty to our city or to our state and that’s what’s missing right now. So it’s more important now than ever to have public education.”
Middle School Teacher Shannon Ordunez:
“In my own district in Christian county our schools can’t take many more cuts. So it’s very important that we continue to fund our schools so we don’t have to cut anything else from our programs. We have really large classroom sizes and every year we see teachers being cut from our building because they can’t afford any more staff. It’s hard to see that.”
Retired Teacher Rose Ross Elder:
“I believe that the route we’re heading, the big picture is vouchers and privatization of education. I think it’s a cornerstone. I think it's a pillar of our democracy to have a public education and if we keep wearing away at it and we go privatized, I think it will affect the whole way our democracy exists. I know that maybe seems like its overstating what little is happening right now in the grand scheme of things, but I think that’s where we’re headed if we don’t turn it around now.”
“We must preserve public education at all costs and we start by getting our best and brightest in as teachers and attracting ‘em. And we have to protect it, we have to protect public education. It’s a way up for everybody. It’s the American dream that we all talk about. The stepping stone is a public education.”
Murray Artist Eva King:
“An educated population is important. Sometimes I feel like there’s a movement to not educate people, to not make libraries available and to not fund public education. And I think the key to our population, our survival, is educating everyone.”
President of Calloway County Education Association and Preschool Teacher Gwenda Wilhelm:
“Our kids need a future. They need an appropriate future and we can’t do that, we can’t meet their needs without the proper funds.”
“You can talk to any teacher, we all have struggles. We just finished filing my income taxes and had to report $900 that I’ve spent out of my pocket to get resources in my classroom at the pre-school in order to meet the needs of the kids.”
Elementary School Teacher Kim Black:
“Every child has an opportunity to grow. It’s much more expensive not to fund public education than it is to fund. They’re our future.”
“We’re concerned that they’re are going to be so many cuts that we’ll have to lose some of the very important things that help us educate our children. We would like to have funding for textbooks, funding for our transportation, funding for our aides…”
