Education
Our public school system taught me most of what I know. I attended elementary school, middle school, and high school in the Fayette County Public School system. As a proud product of Kentucky's public schools (and a son, a grandson, and a great grandson of public school teachers), I am appalled by the relentless attacks from Matt Bevin and the State Legislature on teachers and public education.
We have a moral responsibility to ensure all children have access to the highest quality education without having to pay a tuition. I oppose voucher programs, credits for withdrawing a child from public schools to use towards private school enrollment, and any other attempts to privatize our public school system to shortchange Kentucky teachers and students.
My priorities include:
-
Innovative Education - Exploring new approaches to innovation for the twenty-first-century economy.
-
College Readiness - Making sure all Kentucky high school graduates are college-ready and prepared to take on the next steps in life.
-
Increasing Teacher Pay - Teachers are the backbone of our communities, and they should be paid to reflect this. To keep them from leaving for another job. I support requiring first year public school teachers to be paid a minimum of $40,000 per year and $33,500 for teacher aids.
-
Don't Arm Teachers - I can't believe I have to put this on my website, but here we are. Allowing teachers to carry firearms in classrooms will only heighten the odds of another school shooting, not prevent them.
-
Community College - The idea of free college tuition for all sounds good, but it's simply unrealistic. I support making tuition of Kentucky's community colleges income based. Certain one- and two-year community college programs and certifications can realistically be offered for free as an incentive to get younger people interested and working in those needed fields.
-
Affordable Tuition - We must take action to stop the massive annual increases to make college tuition affordable.
Let's build communities for success!
