Education
Our public school system taught me most of what I know. I attended K-12 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 outraged by the relentless attacks from 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:
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College Readiness - Making sure all Kentucky high school graduates are college-ready and prepared to take on the next steps in life.
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Community College - The idea of free college tuition for all sounds good, but (unless it's paid for by the federal government) it is simply unrealistic. I do support making tuition of Kentucky's community colleges income based. Certain one and two-year community college trade and certification programs can realistically be offered for free as an incentive to get younger people interested and working in needed fields.
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Affordable Tuition - We must take action to stop the massive annual increases to make college tuition affordable.
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Increasing Teacher Pay - Teachers are the backbone of our communities, and they should be paid to reflect this. The average length of time from the point a new teacher begins until they quit is three years. To keep them from leaving for another job, I support requiring all first year public school teachers to be paid a minimum of $40,000 per year and $33,500 for teacher aids.
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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.
Let's build communities for success!