On the issue of pension “reform,” KEA members across the Commonwealth speak truth to power It’s hard these days to avoid hearing about Kentucky public pensions; it’s the primary topic of discussion in newspapers, on TV and radio and on social media. The conversation has been building for months, starting with the State of the Commonwealth address in January and culminating on October 20 with the release of the Governor’s “Keeping the Promise” pension bill draft. All communications from the administration on this issue are intended to convince anyone who listens that Kentucky’s public pensions are in “crisis” and that the situation must be resolved immediately. For them, that means cutting benefits to retirees; imposing additional financial burdens on those who have actually paid their required share; and pushing the risk and financial obligations of the pension systems onto individuals and local governments. There hasn’t been any serious discussion about substantively reforming the state tax code to create needed additional revenue to address the everincreasing unmet needs of all the citizens of the Commonwealth, including those who have earned public pensions. We believe the legislature’s primary obligation is to find funding first. You may have heard recently that the administration called KEA and other education advocacy groups “liars” for saying that we had no input into the proposed pension reform plan. The governor states that he and his aides met with us “for hours” before the framework was released in mid-October. It’s true that meetings did occur. However, calling stakeholders to meet – even more than once – to tell them what you already planned to do is not the same as giving them input; it’s announcing a
decision already made and informing us that compliance is the only option. Under the circumstances, it should have come as no surprise to anyone when the affected employees and retirees pushed back, and pushed back hard. Immediately after the release of the full “Keeping the Promise” bill draft, KEA staff set about organizing legislative forums for our members and others affected by this proposal. Over the last several weeks, thousands of Kentuckians from dozens of counties have attended those community events to let their legislators know that they must listen to the people who elected them and take the welfare of the citizens into account when making consequential decisions. Your voices have been heard. Almost every legislator who has been asked has said he or she will not vote for the bill “as written.” Although we are very grateful for those brave statements made in the face of obvious pressure from the administration, we must always be discerning listeners. “As written” only means “not this version.” We must keep the pressure on to make sure that any changes made to this proposed legislation do not harm public employees and their families. We must continue to let legislators and the administration know that we are watching them as they make policy decisions that will affect Kentuckians for generations to come. Over the next few weeks and months, on this and on other issues that affect public education, please continue to exercise your constitutional right to speak truth to power. With you, anything is possible.
2
Here’s why moving Kentucky teachers into Social Security is a bad idea Kentucky teachers do not participate in Social Security, meaning that they don’t pay Social Security tax on their teaching wages and as a result, are not eligible to draw Social Security benefits on those wages. That circumstance is the result of decisions made many decades ago at both the federal and state levels. When the current Kentucky pension conversation first started, Governor Bevin talked a lot about moving teachers, both current and future, away from their defined benefit pension plan to a retirement structure that includes Social Security and a defined contribution component. Under the current legal circumstances, here is why KEA opposes the idea. Moving current teachers to Social Security violates their inviolable contract. Kentucky teachers who are already contributing to the Teachers’ Retirement System of Kentucky (“TRS”) have a legal right to continue their participation in that defined benefit system until they choose to retire or voluntarily leave for other reasons. Involuntarily pushing current teachers out of TRS participation into Social Security will violate their legal rights. Moving all new teacher hires to any retirement plan that relies, even in part, on Social Security, cedes state control of employee retirement plans to the federal system. The eligibility requirements, contribution levels and benefit payments for Social Security are established by Congress, not by the Kentucky General Assembly. State government is far more responsive to the needs of Kentucky citizens and has a more direct interest in their long-term welfare than does the federal government. Social Security has its own significant financial problems, far worse than TRS. It’s no secret that the Social Security system is severely underfunded by trillions of dollars, and that Congress periodically considers reducing, eliminating or privatizing the program. It is entirely possible that Social Security could be eliminated before any new hire would ever be eligible to draw benefits. Individual participants in Social Security and their employers must pay in much longer before participants are eligible for benefits, and even when eligible, participants receive significantly less from Social Security than from TRS. Under current rules, a TRS participant can draw a full benefit from the system after 27 years of service. TRS benefits are structured to allow participants to substantially, but not completely, replace their income during retirement. By contrast, Social Security benefits are intended as a minimum financial safety net. Under current rules, Social Security participants can take a reduced benefit at age 62, which means that a 22 year old new teacher and his or her employer will have to contribute to Social Security for 40 years – 13 years longer than TRS -- for the teacher to draw less than a full benefit. For a person who begins teaching during 2017, that means they will have to work and contribute to Social Security until 2057 to draw a minimum benefit. Even assuming that Social Security still exists, receiving a full retirement benefit from Social Security will take an additional 5 years, until 2062. When compared to TRS, Social Security provides far less financial benefit for the individual participant and requires a much longer investment period. Social Security has too strict a definition of “new hire.” Generally, when using the term “new hire,” we mean someone hired into a teaching position for the very first time after a certain date, i.e., anyone hired as a teacher after July 1, 2018 who has never been a teacher in Kentucky before. But the Social Security Administration takes a much broader view of what constitutes a “new hire”: from their point of view, the term encompasses not only people who are not yet employed as teachers, it also includes currently employed teachers who move from one school district to another, who are non-renewed and then re-hired in the same district, or who have an extended break in service and return to work, even with the same employer. For instance, under the Social Security Administration’s application of its rules, a teacher who has been employed for 15 years in County Kentucky Education Association
A who takes a teaching or administrative job in County B will be considered a “new hire” by Social Security and will be forced away from TRS and into whatever Social Security/defined contribution retirement plan may be in place at the time. That will occur even if the teacher doesn’t want to stop participating in TRS. Furthermore, those teachers who are moved to a different retirement system mid-career will still be subject to the federal GPO/WEP offset (see below) of any Social Security benefits they might accrue, either through their teaching employment or as a result of separate covered employment. In short, if the legislature adopted any plan that required all “newly hired” teachers to go into a Social Security/ defined contribution retirement structure, that will have devastating financial consequences for some current teachers. Government Pension Offset (GPO): The Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduces public employees’ Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by an amount equal to two-thirds of their public pension. Spousal and survivor benefits are normally available to any person whose retired or deceased spouse worked at a job in which he or she earned Social Security benefits. The GPO reduces or eliminates these benefits. The GPO affects individuals who worked as federal, state or local government employees, including educators, police officers and firefighters, if the job was not covered by Social Security. For example: Jane — a widowed, retired educator receives a public pension of $600 a month. Her job in the public school system was not covered by Social Security. Her deceased husband, however, earned Social Security benefits from his job in the private sector. An amount equal to two-thirds of Jane’s public pension — or $400 — will be cut from her Social Security widow’s benefits. This means that if she were eligible for $500 in survivor benefits, the GPO would reduce her benefits to $100 ($500 - $400 = $100). This offset will occur even if Jane herself has earned a Social Security benefit through other covered employment. Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. The WEP affects people who work both as public employees in jobs not covered by Social Security and in jobs in which they earned Social Security benefits. For example, the WEP affects educators who do not earn Social Security from their jobs in the public schools, but who work part-time in jobs covered by Social Security. The WEP also affects people who change careers, moving from a job in which they earn Social Security benefits to a job, such as teaching in Kentucky, in which they are not covered by Social Security. The WEP reduces the factor by which average earnings are multiplied to determine Social Security benefits. How much the factor is reduced depends on when the individual becomes eligible to retire and how many years of earnings he or she has accumulated. For example: Bob — a retired educator — worked for 17 years in Vermont, a state in which educators participate in the Social Security system. Bob then moved to Maine, a state in which educators are not covered by Social Security. Bob worked for 14 more years in Maine before retiring. According to the Social Security Administration, he earned monthly benefits of $540 per month for contributions paid into the Social Security system while he worked in Vermont. However, because of the WEP, his actual monthly benefits will be cut by $196 a month. Bob will receive only $344 per month from Social Security instead of the $540 he earned. This reduction will occur regardless of the timing of the move from covered to non-covered employment. For all these reasons, until the federal law changes and Kentucky teachers are no longer subject to the GPO/WEP offset, KEA opposes moving any current or future public school teacher or administrator into the Social Security system.
If you want to know more about the GPO/WEP, go to www.kea.org and find “Kentucky Teachers and Social Security” under the “Wages & Benefits” section.
November 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 2
Revenue options provide solution to Kentucky’s pension funding problems
3
By Kenny Colston, Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, October 31, 2017
As the governor, legislative leaders and stakeholders wrestle with potential harmful changes to pension benefits of Kentucky public employees, a new report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP) is a reminder there is another way to pay down our liabilities and move the state forward. The report, Revenue Options To Meet Obligations and Protect Investments, lists dozens of options for funding pensions as well as other critical services that have been cut repeatedly due to revenue shortfalls over the past decade. The report also describes how growing special interest tax breaks have eroded Kentucky’s revenue base since the last major effort to generate new revenue in 1990. “The idea that the only way to fund the pension systems is by cutting benefits yet again is a false choice,” Jason Bailey, executive director of KCEP and one of the report’s three authors, said. “We could also clean up some of the billions of dollars’ worth in tax breaks that drain revenue from our budget. It’s a way to move the state forward on pensions, education and other
critical investments needed to build thriving communities.” Options in the report would improve the fairness of Kentucky’s tax system while generating revenue. Cleaning up a comprehensive set of tax breaks in the individual and corporate income taxes, sales tax and others could generate at least a billion dollars to improve Kentucky’s fiscal health. Options include: • Follow surrounding states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia) and simplify filing by shifting from itemized deductions to the existing standard deduction for all — $367 million • Create new income tax rates of 6.5 percent at $100,000 and 7 percent at $250,000 and phase out lower rates for income from $250,000 to $300,000 — $130 million • Tighten corporate tax loopholes through combined reporting and a throwback rule — $66 million • Create a review process for all business tax break programs, require sunset dates and
require the General Assembly to reauthorize programs — up to $361 million from sunsets • Expand the sales tax to include luxury services — $115 million Without new revenue, in addition to harmful pension benefit cuts, the next two-year budget will likely include drastic cuts to essential services. If allowed to happen, these will come on top of 17 rounds of cuts since 2008 in education, infrastructure and more. Cleaning up Kentucky’s tax code will not only help solve pension underfunding, but stave off harmful cuts to critical investments and put us back on the path to strengthening Kentucky’s future. “We are founded as a commonwealth, but for far too long, Kentucky has let special interests drain investments out of our communities through tax breaks,” Bailey said. “It’s time for us to come together again, clean up our tax code and re-invest in our state.” To view the full text of Revenue Options To Meet Obligations and Protect Investments, visit www.kypolicy.org.
Sick leave accrual, payout and credit in the retirement system: How does that work? As you probably know, sick leave accrual and its use in the retirement systems has been a hot topic over the last few months. There are some misconceptions about how sick leave accrues, how it is paid out, and what use can be made of those payments, if they occur. Here’s a primer on the mechanics of sick leave accrual and use:
Sick leave accrual:
By law, every full-time school employee in Kentucky is granted at least 10 days of sick leave per year. Local school boards may approve additional days. KRS 161.155(4) states that unused sick leave may accumulate without limitation and is transferable from district to district.
Payment for unused sick leave:
Beginning July 1, 1982, the law was changed to allow local school districts the discretion to pay retiring school employees for each day of unused sick leave. (Payment is also allowed to the estate of an employee who dies during active service.) The payments, if made, are limited to a maximum of 30% of the daily rate based on the employee’s final annual salary. See KRS 161.155(10(a). Most school districts across Kentucky make these payments, and most (but not all) at 30%.
Crediting sick leave payment toward final annual salary for TEACHERS: KRS 161.155(10)(a) allows any payment for unused sick leave days upon retirement to be incorporated into the annual salary of the final year of service for inclusion in the calculation of the teacher’s retirement allowance, but only at the time of his or her initial retirement. Inclusion is allowed only if the member makes the regular retirement contribution on the sick leave payment.
November 2017
Volume 54
Crediting sick leave payment toward final annual salary for EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS:
ESPs participate in the County Employees Retirement System (CERS) non-hazardous plan. There are currently three tiers of participants in CERS N-H, and different rules about the use of accumulated sick leave apply to each tier. Tier I participants may use some of their sick leave for service credit and to determine eligibility for retirement; Tier II employees may purchase some of their accumulated sick leave for service credit, but it cannot be used to determine retirement eligibility. Tier III employees cannot use accumulated sick leave for any purpose. Because the rules around use of accumulated sick leave for CERS are complicated, check the specific information that applies to you on the Kentucky Retirement Systems website at www.kyret.ky.gov. Both TEACHERS and EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS can receive a payout for accumulated unused sick leave upon retirement if authorized by their employer. All employees hired after July 1, 2008, are limited to a maximum of 300 days for payout calculation.
How would all this change under the governor’s proposal?
If the governor’s pension proposal goes unchanged, the entire sick leave structure will change significantly: • It strikes guaranteed sick leave entirely. The proposed bill draft strikes the provisions of KRS 161.155 that require school districts to give 10 days of sick leave per year. Instead, the governor wants to let each local school board decide how many days – if any -- to provide to employees.
Issue No. 2
School employees could still accumulate sick leave and school boards could still pay out accumulated sick leave upon retirement, but under the proposed bill, after July 1, 2018 there’s no guarantee that sick leave will be granted at all. • It creates a 5-year “window of opportunity” for teachers to use accumulated sick leave for retirement purposes. Teachers who can retire by June 30, 2023 will be allowed to use the value of a payout for accumulated sick leave toward the last year salary for inclusion in calculating their pension. Teachers who retire after that date will not be allowed to use a sick leave payout for that purpose. • It freezes sick leave conversion for Tier I and Tier II CERS participants N-H to the number of days accumulated as of June 30, 2018. Under the governor’s proposal, in order to use accumulated sick leave days toward retirement eligibility, Tier I participants must retire by June 30, 2018. Tier II participants are currently limited to 12 months of accumulated sick leave for conversion purposes and generally cannot use it toward retirement eligibility; regardless, Tier II participants will also be frozen at the number of sick leave days accrued by June 30, 2018, even if that is less than the number currently allowed for conversion. If you participate in TRS and have questions about sick leave accumulation, payout and credit toward retirement, contact TRS at 1-800-6181687 or check out their website at www.trs.ky.gov. If you participate in CERS N-H and have similar questions, use their website at www.kyret.ky.gov or call 1-800-928-4646.
Kentucky Education Association
4 Dear Readers:
Although protecting the pensions of public employees and retirees is a priority for KEA, assuring the General Assembly provides adequate funding for Kentucky’s public schools is always mission critical. The legislature’s next regular session will convene on January 2, 2018 and will include 60 business days, during which the legislators’ most important task will be to pass a budget for the Commonwealth for the next two years. As always, public schools funding will be a major component of that budget. Public school employees and supporters of public education in the
Commonwealth must be prepared to advocate for a budget that includes sufficient funding for our public schools to give the children of the Commonwealth the education they deserve—and need. Here are some important points about funding for public schools, and some tips for discussing the issue effectively.
Stephanie Winkler, KEA President
School Funding:
Learn the facts and how to discuss them
By Amanda Litvinov with reporting by Brian Washington and illustrations by Steve McCracken
School funding is a mix of federal, state, and local funding sources distributed through complex and ever-changing formulas, making it all too easy for elected leaders to use halftruths to slash education budgets and divert taxpayer dollars from public schools. Pro-public education advocates can’t allow that to happen. Don’t shy away from making the case for better school funding. Just stick to the facts. Below, we outline four critical points about school funding, with a straightforward bottom line fact that you can use, plus tips on how to be a strong advocate for school resources.
FACT: America’s schools are not ‘flush with cash.’ Most education funding (roughly 90 percent) comes from state and local sources. But K-12 state funding since the Great Recession has failed to keep up with rising enrollments. According to research by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, per pupil funding is lower today than it was in 2008 in 23 states. The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy reported that “Kentucky is third worst in the country when it comes to cuts to state formula funding for K-12 between 2008 and 2017, with a decline in per student funding of 13.1 percent once inflation is taken into account.” KCEP also reported the Commonwealth “cut total state education funding per student (formula funding plus other funding) by 8.5 percent between 2008 and 2014.”
Federal education spending is stuck at pre-2007 levels. That’s bad news, because federal education programs provide states with funding to protect vulnerable populations of students—those who are from low-income families, those learning English, and those with disabilities to name only a few. Dwindling federal money puts even more pressure on state and local budgets.
Bottom line: Per-pupil funding in most states, and federal education spending, have declined to dangerously low levels. Lawmakers should be held accountable.
FACT: Voucher schemes drain precious resources from neighborhood public schools. To claim otherwise is outrageous.
Voucher pushers gloss over the fact that making public education money “portable”—that is, removing the average per-pupil funding for each student who receives a voucher—depletes funds needed to sustain a public school system. The per-pupil average may not reflect the resources required to educate that student. Research shows that most vouchers go to middle-class kids who already attend private schools. These students typically require fewer resources to educate than children who are living in poverty, learning English, or have special needs. And the costs of keeping the lights on, maintaining the building and school campus, transporting kids, and keeping appropriate class sizes are costs that barely go down if a few students leave. Kim Coomer, a career specialist at Warren County Area Technical Center and president of Warren County EA, says she believes politicians and others who support voucher initiatives know full well that their schemes drain resources from public schools. “Politicians starve public schools to create a self-fulfilling prophecy—programs are cut, class sizes swell, quality teachers leave, concocting an artificial demand for privatization,” Coomer said. “That’s precisely what the United States Department of Education is doing at the federal level. They will pull taxpayer dollars out of critical programs like Title I, which helps public schools that serve low-income kids, to coerce states to follow their agenda.”
Kentucky Education Association
Bottom line: Taxpayer dollars cannot support two education systems. Diverting our money from public schools that serve all children to unaccountable private schools is reckless and wrong. November 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 2
FACT: Education spending makes a difference— especially for low-income students.
5
Do not allow anyone to tell you that the U.S. spends too much on education. Yes, overall U.S. education spending is on the high side among developed nations. But our rate of child poverty far exceeds almost all other countries included in such comparisons. Our schools must spend to counter the effects of poverty while many European countries and Canada, for example, alleviate those conditions through other government spending. The good news is that the services public schools provide are working. For poor children, a 20 percent increase in per-pupil spending each year of their K-12 education is associated with nearly a full additional year of completed education, 25 percent higher earnings, and a 20 percent reduction in the annual incidence of poverty in adulthood (Source: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014 and 2016). Also: More than 30 years of research shows that smaller class sizes are better. Class size reduction is one of only four evidence-based reforms that have been proven to increase student achievement. All students benefit from individual, active attention from their teachers, which is compromised when class sizes balloon.
Bottom line: Money matters a lot in education, and it matters how it is spent.
FACT: Investing in education is one of the best ways to strengthen the economy. Corporate tax breaks and tax cuts are a race to the bottom—a short-sighted approach to economic development, say Noah Berger and Peter Fisher of the Economic Policy Institute. Their research shows that providing expanded access to high quality education is likely the very best thing that a state government can do to bolster its long-term prosperity. Good public schools attract businesses and produce well-prepared workers who eventually contribute to state revenues through taxes, allowing the state to keep investing in education—a cycle of success. The state’s chronic failure to overhaul our outdated tax structure to generate additional revenue is a big part of the reason public school educators are vehemently opposed to Governor Bevin’s draconian cuts to their pension plans. Educators believe Kentucky should find funding first. The Commonwealth gives away more than $580 million each year to corporations in the form of tax credits, sales tax
exemptions and other financial incentives. That’s $580 million that isn’t available to spend for the benefit of all Kentucky’s citizens, including public employees and their families. State Representative Jim Wayne (D-Louisville) introduced a comprehensive tax reform bill in the 2017 session of the Kentucky General Assembly that, in the view of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, “would address inequalities in our tax system and strengthen our ability to make the investments that build thriving communities.” Rep. Wayne has pre-filed the same bill for the 2018 session. You can read a summary of Bill Request 15 and find a link to the full text at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/18RS/ prefiled/BR15.htm)
Bottom line: It’s time to stop giving handouts to corporations that don’t need them and invest taxpayer dollars in our students instead.
Now that you’ve brushed up on four essential facts about school funding, what can you do with this knowledge? You can share it with your networks, persuade policymakers, and, when necessary, debunk myths when you hear them. Here are a few tips for doing so:
When you’re talking school funding…. DO
• Share how education funding affects your classroom. Personal stories help elected leaders and the public understand that students and educators feel every funding cut.
DON’T
• Emphasize the return on investing in public education. State leaders should know they’ll have bragging rights for investing in neighborhood public schools. • Connect the dots: Voucher schemes drain money from public schools. Taxpayers should not be asked to support two separate systems of education, and everyone around you should know it.
• Don’t repeat the opposition’s argument and avoid using their misleading words. Your goal should be to assert the truth and back it up without re-stating the myth. Call a voucher a voucher—not “choice,” a tax credit, or an education savings account. Don’t just say what doesn’t work—name the solutions as well. There are many proven ways to improve schools, such as reducing class sizes so that teachers can provide more one-on-one attention, offering a well-rounded curriculum, and increasing parental involvement. That’s how taxpayer funds should be spent.
AND REMEMBER…
Educators are among the most trusted members of the community. When you speak up on why public school funding matters, people will listen. This feature originally apeared in the Summer 2017 edition of NEA Today. They have given us permission to adapt and reprint it here.
November 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 2
Kentucky Education Association
6 January 16, 2018, is deadline to declare for offices to be elected at 146th DA or propose amendments to KEA Constitution Elections of Statewide KEA Officers
Delegates to the 146th KEA Delegate Assembly, to be held April 4-6, 2018 in Louisville, will elect three members to positions on the KEA Executive Committee: • An NEA Director, to serve a three-year term on the NEA Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the KEA Board of Directors; • An Ethnic Minority Director-at-Large (1) to serve a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the KEA Board of Directors; and • An Ethnic Minority Director-at-Large (2) to serve the remaining two years of an unexpired term on the KEA Board of Directors. Active KEA members who are interested in running for any of these positions must submit the official candidate declaration form to KEA headquarters in Frankfort, no later than 5:00 pm (EST) on Tuesday, January 16, 2018. The
form is available under the “Members” tab at KEA.org.
Amendments to the KEA Constitution, By-laws
Assembly delegates also will vote on any proposed amendments to the KEA Constitution and By-laws. Members wishing to propose amendments must submit them to the KEA Compliance/Constitution Committee, in care of Rich Mullins, KEA Assistant Executive Director for Programs, no later than 5:00 pm (EST) on Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Proposed amendments may be submitted by mail to KEA, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601, or by email to rich. mullins@kea.org.
Nominations for 2018 Smith-Wilson Award must be submitted to the KEA Diversity Committee by February 2, 2018 KEA’s Lucy Harth Smith /Atwood S. Wilson Award for Human and Civil Rights in Education is presented to an individual or group for one or more of the following: continuing work in the area of multicultural education; contributions to the advancement of educational opportunities for minorities; contributions to the availability of multicultural educational materials; contributions in the areas of innovative and creative strategies to advance and develop leadership opportunities for gender equitable and culturally diverse populations; and leadership in the field of human relations.
Nominations for the 2018 award. which will be presented at the 146th KEA Delegate Assembly, will be accepted until 5:00 p\m (EST) Friday, February 2, 2018. The Smith-Wilson nomination form can be found at KEA.org under the “Members” tab. Once you have completed the nomination form, you should submit it to a member of the KEA Diversity Committee. A list of the Diversity Committee members is also available on the KEA website. For more information, contact Rosalind Bryant, toll-free at (800) 231-4532, or by email to rosalind.bryant@kea.org.
Diversity Lesson Plan Contest entries due February 2, 2018 Four KEA members will each win $200 at the Smith-Wilson Award Breakfast for submitting the winning entries in the KEA Diversity Lesson Plan Contest, administered annually by the KEA Diversity Committee. The Award Breakfast is held annually prior to the second business session of the KEA Delegate Assembly. At the 146th DA, the breakfast will be on Thursday morning, April 5. The deadline for submission of entries is Friday, February 2, 2018. All entries must be sent by email to Diversity@KEA.org or
by mail to KEA Diversity Lesson Plan Contest, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. The entry form and format requirements will be available at KEA.org on December 1, 2017. By entering the KEA Diversity Lesson Plan Contest, you consent to the publication of your lesson plan submission if selected as a winning entry. The winning lesson plan entries will be posted at KEA.org after the KEA Delegate Assembly.
Submit your New Business Items for the 2018 Delegate Assembly to KEA by January 16, 2018, for publication in KEA News The Delegate Assembly is KEA’s highest governing body. Delegates meet each year in the spring to choose state officers, approve the association’s budget and decide the fates of proposed amendments to the KEA constitution and bylaws. Delegates also propose, debate and, by floor vote in open session, approve or reject New Business Items. NBIs can be statements of association policy or directives for work to be done by staff and governance. Much of the association’s day-to-day business in any given year may be in fulfillment of a NBI passed by the KEA Delegate Assembly. In the past, delegates would write and submit their NBI, in the form of a statement and accompanying rationale, at the DA itself. During last year’s DA, a delegate suggested that KEA encourage delegates to submit NBIs in advance and publish them in KEA News so that delegates and alternates could read and discuss them before coming to Louisville in April.
KEA President Stephanie Winkler said, “This idea will help give delegates a chance to consider items more thoughtfully and perhaps create much richer work for our association to engage in.” She is encouraging delegates to submit their NBIs for the 2018 DA to KEA by Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Here’s how to do that: • Write up your idea in the form of a statement, and an accompanying rationale; • Email this information to Charles Main, KEA Communications Director at cmain@kea.org and to Rich Mullins, Assistant Executive Director and staff liaison to the Compliance/Constitution Committee, at rmullins@kea.org. • Include your name and an email address that other delegates may use to contact you; • In the subject line of the email type: NBI Submission.
Kentucky Education Association
KEA NEWS
Volume 54, Issue 2 November 2017 Stephanie Winkler President Eddie Campbell Vice President Mary Ruble Executive Director Charles Main Editor Periodical postage paid at Williamsport, PA. KEA News is published four times a year, in September, November, March and May, by the Kentucky Education Association, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601. Phone 800-231-4532. KEA News is the official publication of KEA and reaches all KEA members. The annual subscription rate to members is $1.50, included in annual dues. The subscription rate to others is $5. ISSN 0164-3959 Postmaster: Send address changes to KEA News, 401 Capitol Avenue Frankfort, KY 40601
November 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 2
7
Nominations for election of Kentucky delegates to 2018 NEA RA in Minneapolis due by January 16 Active KEA members who are interested in attending the 2018 NEA RA may nominate themselves to be elected as delegates. Active members will elect state delegates in an online election scheduled for March 1-31, 2018. (Retired and student members will choose their delegates to the RA in separate elections.) Nominees will run and be elected in either the “East” or “West” region. Your region is determined by the county where you work. You may run and vote only in the appropriate region. Members who wish to run in the delegate election should complete the nomination form below and return it to KEA.
Only the official nomination form (whether the original below or a copy) will be accepted. You must limit the biographical information you provide to 25 words or less. KEA reserves the right to edit the information you submit for accuracy, spelling and grammar, and will include on the election ballot only the first 25 words of any submission. You may submit a photo with your nomination form, but that is not required. If you choose to submit a photo, a paper photo is acceptable; photos submitted electronically should be in jpeg format. Properly completed forms may be submitted any one of three ways: via
Counties in the West Region Allen Anderson Ballard Barren Breckinridge Bullitt Butler Caldwell Calloway Carlisle Carroll Christian Crittenden Cumberland Daviess Edmonson Fulton Graves Grayson Green Hancock Hardin
November 2017
Hart Henderson Henry Hickman Hopkins Jefferson LaRue Livingston Logan Lyon Marion Marshall McCracken McLean Meade Metcalfe Monroe Muhlenberg Nelson Ohio Oldham Owen
Volume 54
Shelby Simpson Spencer Taylor Todd Trigg Trimble Union Warren Washington Webster
fax to (502) 696-8915; via e-mail to KEA-NEA-Delegate@kea.org; or via regular mail to Kentucky Education Association, ATTN: NEA Delegate Election, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. All nomination forms must be received at KEA by the deadline, 5:00 pm Eastern time, Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Forms received after the deadline will not be accepted. More information is available at KEA. org, including the KEA policy on stipends for delegates and an electronic form you can complete in order to nominate yourself online.
Counties in the East Region Adair Bath Bell Boone Bourbon Boyd Boyle Bracken Breathitt Campbell Carter Casey Clark Clay Clinton Elliott Estill Fayette Fleming Floyd Franklin Gallatin
Issue No. 2
Garrard Grant Greenup Harlan Harrison Jackson Jessamine Johnson Kenton Knott Knox Laurel Lawrence Lee Leslie Letcher Lewis Lincoln Madison Magoffin Martin Mason
McCreary Menifee Mercer Montgomery Morgan Nicholas Owsley Pendleton Perry Pike Powell Pulaski Robertson Rockcastle Rowan Russell Scott Wayne Whitley Wolfe Woodford
Kentucky Education Association
www. KEA .org
Kentucky Education Association 401 Capitol Avenue Frankfort, KY 40601
Address service requested
Periodical Mail-Time Sensitive
November 2017 www.KEA.org Volume 54 Issue 2
Ke n t u c k y E d u c a t i o n A s s o c i a t i o n