By Kevin Eigelbach
NKyTribune reporter
Teachers at Tichenor Middle School in Erlanger stayed after class on Thursday afternoon to work on a special art project: Signs for a Friday morning protest against proposed cuts in teacher pensions and in school funding.
Teacher Jeff Heilman makes a sign for Friday’s rally of teachers from the Erlanger Elsmere school district in Frankfort (photos by Kevin Eigelbach).
A group of about 100 teachers from the Erlanger Elsmere School District planned to arrive in Frankfort at 8 a.m. to personally lobby as many state legislators as they could, said Nicole “Nikki” Nussbaum, president of the Erlanger Elsmere Teacher Association.
Nussbaum, who also teaches special education at Tichenor, said after the one-on-one meetings, the teachers planned to line up with their signs, along the underground hallway between the capitol building and the capitol annex.
“We are not the uneducated population they think we are,” she said. “We know what’s going on, and we want to fight for what we know is right.”
The students have Friday off because it was scheduled as a professional learning day for teachers, Nussbaum said. But with the support of Superintendent Kathlyn Burkhardt, that professional learning day was rescheduled for end of the school year, Nussbaum said.
If the state’s support of local schools were cut, she said, the first thing that would go at Tichenor would be the school’s resource center, which provides clothing for needy children and helps their parents pay for things like utility bills and food.
The resource center also arranges dental care for students whose families can’t afford it, said Dave Thomas, who teaches math at Tichenor.
“If we lose that, those kids will be left behind,” he said. “That’s a scary and a sad thought.”
Instead of cutting education funding, Nussbaum thinks legislators should look to boosting revenue. “We allow big companies to come in and get all these tax breaks, but they’re not offering those tax breaks to teachers,” she said.
Dave Thomas, foreground, works on a sign for Friday’s rally of teachers from the Erlanger Elsmere school district. Also pictured are teachers association president Nicole “Nikki” Nussbaum, standing, and teacher Jeff Heilman.
According to published reports, Kentucky’s public pension plan is at least $41 billion short of what it needs to pay retirement benefits over the next 30 years. Lawmakers have committed to putting $3.2 billion into the system over the next two years.
In part to deal with the shortfall, the General Assembly has considered cutting the state budget, which would include cuts to education funding.
A bill intended to alleviate the pension funding gap stalled in the Senate last week. Opponents say it would have cut benefits for some retired teachers and made structural changes that supporters said would save taxpayers $3.2 billion over the next 20 years.
Most of the savings would come from temporary cuts to annual cost-of-living raises for retired teachers, but the cuts would be restored once the system becomes 90 percent funded. It’s only 56 percent funded now.
Thomas has remained a Kentucky teacher, he said, because of the pension benefit. He said his wife used to teach in Kentucky as well, but now teaches in Ohio because the pay is better.
“We’re depending on that retirement for when we get older,” he said.
According to published reports, Gov. Matt Bevin on Tuesday said teachers who oppose changes in the pension plan were “ignorant” and “shortsighted.” He said teachers who protested the pension bill are like people protesting rationing of food and steel during World War II.
Thomas listened to the entire broadcast in which Bevin made those remarks, he said, and found it hurtful. He called the governor’s office and told the staff he’d love to talk over the issue with the governor.
The sign he made for Friday’s protest read, “Lack of funding is unbearable,” and was decorated with images of Care Bears.
Tichenor teacher Jeff Heilman’s sign showed an upside-down image of Kentucky with the words, “A state in distress.” The image was upside down because naval vessels in distress fly their flags upside down.
Heilman has taught for 18 years, he said, and the legislature has pulled money from the pension fund and not returned it since the days of Paul Patton, who was governor from 1995 to 2003. That’s the reason why the state is in the position it’s in now, he added.
The fund doesn’t just pay for teachers pensions, he said, but for other government employees.
“We’re also going there for the police, the firefighters, the classified staff, everyone who’s affected by this,” he said.
Contact the Northern Kentucky Tribune at news@nkytrib.com
