GOP War On Teachers.
I dunno… Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia, seem to be the one that pays worse to it’s teachers, but they also have the largest number of people that hate public education (when not education at all).
They don’t want public education, they abhor having to pay for it. Maybe they should do away with public education, after all those places can’t get more retrograde than they already are.
Please don’t tell me what I want. And you’ve clearly never been to Louisville or Lexington if you believe these cities are so retrograde. Instead of trashing all of us who live in these states, why don’t you try supporting and encouraging those of us standing up to these assaults?
I know. And I understand that local GOP politicians in Kentucky love “sticking it” to the “liberals” in Louisville. They certainly are outnumbered big time. I drove through KY last summer and one thing that I noticed is that churches seems to be competing on who has the largest cross.
Part of my frustration is that I do believe that public education, warts and all, is the most important institution for holding society together. Fundamentalist Christians have done their best to undermine it, and in the places where they are the most pious is where they spend the least in education. In OK entry level teachers get 31K, 41K after 10 years.
The damage has been done already, and it may be best if the state wide system of public education is abolished, and every community pays for it’s own. Contrary to what the wingnuts believe if Louisville or Lexington didn’t have to subsidize the rural parts of the state, they would have much better funded schools.
That’s very true. We get bled for our tax dollars to support communities that treat us as the great satan and do everything in their power to undermine every bit of good we do. It’s extremely frustrating, especially when those of us fighting the good fight get lumped in with rest of them.
Sorry…
This makes me sad, but also hopeful:
Melissa Wash, a first grade teacher form Gallatin County who has been teaching for 19 years, said she voted for Bevin, but now plans to become a Democrat. To the lawmakers who voted for the pension overhaul, she said: “You better not count on another year in office.”
That the rw rhetoric and bs couldn’t be seen through when Bevin and McConnell, and Rand, and a slew of others were elected, not even by teachers - it makes me sad. A statement about areas where pulpit led politics lead many to follow along or stay silent. There are in-numerous places in Indiana about which the same true.
But that this teacher not just declares that she won’t vote again for Bevin - but declares (to the press - not an anonymous move) that she is becoming a democrat - makes me hopeful. For some there comes a point where trying to work so hard to keep the cognitive dissonance at bay (Repubs are good and do virtuous things for the country so must be supported vs. reality of laws and policies that do not serve the public interest and often do the opposite) makes the mirage of GOP" = “Goodness” fade away into reality.
Moving to Kentucky from SoCal to raise my kids was one of the best parenting decisions I made. Preschool to Junior High School in Scott Co (in the 6th) was excellent.
Education kinda goes off the rails a little bit once you hit high school (Lexington and Louisville maybe not so much) but I really can’t knock KY education. I’m a Midway alum, myself.
May that be the wave----that middle class and working class Americans finally have their eyes opened, and vote for themselves and their families. With the Democratic party, there’s a chance that you will be listened to, and see policies that serve the common good. You’d have thought that their experience with Gov. Beshear vs. Bevin would have been the necessary lesson.
Interesting that the teachers aren’t trying to get ahead by tariffs, tax cuts, deregulation or repeal of standards.
Electing Republicans is the historical equivalent of a repetitive motion injury. Every time they get power, they ruin everything however badly it takes to wake people up. Then Democrats will get just long enough a turn to mostly clean up most of the messes. I shudder to think what the next Rump will look like in 2029.