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.

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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. 

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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.​

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