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| Wear Green & contact legislators next Wednesday KEA members all over the state have turned Wednesdays into days of action and solidarity. Next Wednesday, May 19, we ask all members to wear GREEN. Last week, we all wore black in mourning over the lack of an adequate, compassionate state budget. This Wednesday, we wore red because education cuts never heal. On May 19, we remind legislators that we want them to “show us the money” needed to keep Kentucky learning. Wearing the same color is just the first step. Even more important, take a few minutes to communicate with both your state representative and state senator. Tell them that you cannot help all of your students reach their full potential without adequate funding. Tell them what your salary and health insurance mean to your family’s survival. Remind them that your community’s economic future depends on school employees and retirees spending their disposable income locally. When you have less disposable income, your community suffers. To email legislators, go to www.keepkentuckylearning.org. To leave a telephone message for them in Frankfort, call 800.372.7181, Better yet, meet with them before they head to Frankfort for the special session. Invite them into your school or workplace so they can see the impact of school funding firsthand.
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| Gov. Beshear announces May 24 special session Gov. Beshear has informed legislators that he will call a special session to adopt a budget, convening May 24. Beshear has met privately with both House and Senate leaders and strongly urges legislators to reach a budget agreement and be prepared to act on it May 24. The special session is expected to last at least five days, the minimum amount of time required to enact a piece of legislation by both chambers. In his letter to legislators, Gov. Beshear said, “The consequences of inaction are unacceptable, and I am doing everything in my power to avoid that scenario.” He pledged his support and support from his staff in assisting legislators in their budget deliberations. |
| Rally for an adequate, compassionate state budget on May 24 KEA members, in conjunction with the Kentucky Forward coalition, will rally on the Capitol’s front lawn at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 24, the first day of the special legislative session. KEA knows that most members will still be in school on May 24 and that many others live too far away from Frankfort to join this rally. KEA suggests that members who are unable to come to Frankfort plan local activities to make sure legislators know their strong support for adequate and compassionate school funding. Some ideas for local action: postcard campaigns; meetings in the computer lab or library to send masses of emails; rallies at the county courthouse or local landmark. For those members who will attend the rally, start making your signs now. Plan to wear KEA or your school’s attire so you will be visible as a school employee or retiree. Please put a “Public Schools: Kentucky’s Best Investment” bumper sticker on your car (available from your local KEA office). Feel free to bring your family, friends and other supporters of public schools. Plan to park in the Capitol Garage and walk down to the front of the Capitol grounds. |
| KEA invites members to Frankfort all during the special session During the remainder of the special session (probably May 25-28), KEA encourage members to visit legislators in Frankfort. If you will already be out of school, please consider spending one day in Frankfort. Call the legislative message line (800.372.7181) in advance to make an appointment with your senator and representative. Each day of the session, KEA will brief members at 11:00 a.m. at the KEA building (401 Capital Avenue), bringing you up-to-date on budget developments. Please let us know that you will be coming so we can have enough briefing materials – call 800.231.4532 or email mary.blankenship@kea.org. Please wear KEA or your school’s attire to show your support for public school funding. And put a “Public Schools: Kentucky’s Best Investment” bumper sticker on your car so everyone sees your support. Each KEA office across the state has a supply of these bumper stickers. |
| Tell your stories Sadly, everyone who works in Kentucky’s schools right now either knows someone who has been pink slipped. Even more unfortunate, almost all school employees have received notice of a cut back in their work year and corresponding salary. Much of these cutbacks is due to the lack of a state budget that adequately provides for schools. When you contact legislators, please share with them the results of their inaction and how it has affected you and your colleagues. One such poignant story was when a pregnant teacher received a pink slip. She was taken from school in an ambulance one afternoon, so stressed out over the loss of her job leading to loss of insurance and the consequences for herself and her unborn child. |
| Governor outlines compromise budget proposal In announcing that he will call the General Assembly into special session, Gov. Beshear outlined a compromise budget that he said includes the budget agreements reached during the regular session that ended April 15 without a budget. The governor suggested compromises in areas where legislators were not able to reach agreement, most notably education and the level of borrowing for projects. Education Funding: The House had proposed cutting two instructional days while the Senate proposed significant cuts in SEEK but no reduction in the number of instructional days. Gov. Beshear, in his proposal, suggested maintaining all instructional days but requiring that local school districts fund one day with local funds. His proposed level of SEEK funding represents a small reduction – less than 1% below this year’s funding. School Construction: The Governor proposes funding to replace all Category 5 schools, the schools with the worst physical plants. He also recommends honoring prior commitments from previous state budgets for public school buildings through the School Facilities Construction Commission. |
| KEA remains concerned about school and health care funding All three budgets -- from the House, the Senate and the Governor – contain at least minor cuts in school funding. At the same time demands on schools are increasing with the implementation of Senate Bill 1 (2009 session), KEA strongly believes that school funding should increase, not decrease. Costs of schooling have not decreased, whether it’s the cost of paper or learning materials or utilities. The House, Senate and gubernatorial budgets contain no raises for school employees. The House and Senate budgets passed during the regular session contained significant cuts in funding for health care for school employees and retirees. KEA is still analyzing the Governor’s proposal to find its impact on health care funding. Just as with schools, employees’ and retirees’ costs continue to increase. Kentucky cannot afford to have school employees who must work second and third jobs to support their families. KEA representatives met with House leadership on the last day of the regular session (April 15) to express Association members’ grave concerns about health care funding. KEA also held a news conference on April 14 to raise legislators’ awareness of this concern. During the April 15 meeting, leadership pledged to continue working with KEA on health care, as it was apparent that no state budget would be passed during that session. Despite repeated requests from KEA, no additional meetings have been held to discuss this crucial issue. |
| Contact McConnell and Bunning about federal jobs bill The National Education Association is one of the prime supporters of the federal S. 3206, the Keep Our Educators Working Act, which is proposed as part of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. This bill is currently working its way through the U.S. Senate. This legislation would provide federal funding to help prevent pink slips of school employees. You can contact Kentucky’s senators – Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning – through the NEA web site: www.nea.org. |
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