Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler said the Republican proposal to fix the broken state pension fund “will devastate public education in Kentucky.” This drew criticism from State Rep. Bam Carney, a former public school teacher who said “The rhetoric, [has] done more damage to prospective educators than I think maybe what’s in the” proposal. Teachers have rallied against the GOP plan and have come up with a counter proposal but it mostly relies on tax increases and new sources of revenue. The state pension system is in crisis which means that if immediate action isn't taken, there may be nothing to talk about. It wasn't teachers that caused the crisis, but in order to fix it, it will be painful all around, which means teachers will feel some pain too.