KY Teachers force veto override, winning $480 million tax increase for public education
Fuck yeah!
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — With the chants of hundreds of teachers ringing in their ears, Kentucky lawmakers voted Friday to override the Republican governor’s veto of a more than $480 million tax increase meant to fuel increases in public education spending.
Lawmakers also moved closer to overriding Gov. Matt Bevin’s veto of a two-year operating budget, with a climactic vote still pending.
The votes came as thousands of teachers rallied inside and outside the Capitol, forcing more than 30 school districts to close as Kentucky continued the chorus of teacher protests across the country. The rally took on a festival-like atmosphere in Kentucky as some teachers sat in lawn chairs or sprawled out on blankets. Crosby Stills, Nash and Young’s hit “Teach Your Children” bellowed from the loud speakers.
My heart swells with pride at the political accomplishments of my colleagues in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. How many more states need a re-commitment to their own constitutions to fund effective and free public education?
From another perspective, the winner of the NJ lottery yesterday won $533M. Priorities in these United States?
The budget veto override passed 66-28 in a GOP-controlled House.
Naturally, this goes deeper than simple support for teachers and into the inability of Republicans to get along with anyone, particularly each other.
Well Delaware could start by replacing the $36 million taken from Public Schools in last years budget. Also restoring the funding for Reading Specialists and Math Specialists stolen from public school funding by the previous governor in 2009 and never restored might, by many expert accounts, help in educating our children appropriately. That was another $30 million per year lifted from the “kids” futures. You don’t need to look at those Red States and criticize their insensitive attitudes toward education when we have our own “petri” dish here in Delaware growing failure.
Representative John Kowalko
John Kowalko is right. I’m watching this session to see if legislators in Delaware do the right thing. Creating higher tax brackets will help. There was no impact report on cutting education funding. I didn’t expect the governor or the speaker to spell out where that 66M was cut, or the consequences of those cuts, but surely DSEA had an interest in making those public. Silence there too. Top staff at DSAE make about double what any teachers make. It is a jealously guarded secret, designed to protect the voices of those in DSEA who who betray the common good, including what is good for teachers. Shocking, yes?