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Pension Positions from Legislators

I and many others have contacted our state legislators with concerns regarding the teachers' pension crisis. In the interest of transparency, I am sharing the responses I received so that you may know where these legislators stand. Thank you, Gay, for contacting me regarding pension reform.  Many of you are concerned about the highlights of the proposed pension reform revealed by the Governor and leadership in the House and Senate on October 17, 2017.  I have received many emails, letters, and telephone calls.  I have talked to many of my constituents about the proposal, and I cannot find anyone…

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The Charter School Vultures Are Circling

Keep your children indoors! The Kentucky Department of Education recently released the proposed regulations for charter schools. What no one’s reported yet is that the vultures are already starting to circle to see if they can kill some of the very reasonable regulations. Among The KDE proposals are that charter schools meet performance standards, including test scores, graduation rates and promotion rates; that those applying to run Kentucky charters reveal performance, finances and any closings of charters they’ve run in other states; and that authorizers — school boards and/or the mayors of Louisville and Lexington…

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Don’t Be Rhode Island

Last year Diane Bucci, the legislative committee chair for the Rhode Island Teachers Association, told Roll Call: “If you’re connected with billionaires, how do you look at a pension fund? Do you look at people on a fixed income? Or do you look at your friends who can make money from the investments?” Why am I talking about Rhode Island? Well, Governor Matt Bevin would have you believe that turning Kentucky’s pensions into 401(k)s would save the state money. That’s what voters in Rhode Island thought, too — until they found out differently. In 2010,…

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Well Kept Secrets Regarding the Pension Crisis in Kentucky

Edward Seidle is hailed as hero in Rhode Island for uncovering corruption, however, his findings from 2013 and 2014 gained no traction in Kentucky. Why is that?   Especially considering national news picked it up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2013/08/08/kentucky-fried-pensions/#20cf1f3d4470 https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2013/01/23/kentucky-retirement-system-whistleblower-gives-unite-here-union-report-to-sec/#7e9073ea1750 https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2014/11/21/kentucky-teachers-sue-retirement-system-over-secretive-alternative-investments/#b0d742a3cce0 Maybe there was something in this report that would have disrupted their ability to solicit funding from Wall Street? https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2112594

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Protect Our SBDM Power

Some groups are advocating to strip our SBDM decision-making power away. This could happen during the next legislative session. How can you help keep SBDM power at the local school level? Join our SBDM Support Group on Facebook Email Education Committee Members Support SOSKY so you can stay informed Thank you!  

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A Parent’s Voice on SBDMs

A letter from an SBDM parent representative: Representative Carney, Senator Wilson, and Education Committee Members, Well, we find ourselves in the unfortunate position of discussing another attempt to remove parent power from…