"The recently enacted state budget is another step backward for Kentucky kids. And it comes at a particularly bad time – just when the state is poised to move student achievement to the next level and help lead the nation on the most important education reforms in a generation," writes Sexton, who is executive director of the Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence.

"Kentucky's governor and legislators must do two things," he continues. "They must reform our antiquated tax system so state education revenue can keep up with economic growth. And they must get control of spiraling health insurance costs while ensuring that teachers and other public employees receive fair and sustainable benefits."

Read the entire essay here.

KFTC and our allies in Kentucky pulled off a 500-person rally with one week's notice because Kentuckians know that now is the time for solutions. 

Thanks to all the KFTC members who printed flyers, organized carpools, talked to your friends and neighbors about coming out, made signs, and showed up the event ready to stand with allies in the call for fair and adequate reforms.  Now we need to make sure that the legislature continues to hear the message.  We'll be following up with legislators who came down in support of the rally--including the ones who've yet to co-sponsor our tax reform bill!

Here's a non-inclusive list of some of the media coverage:

WTVQ
WKYT
FOX41
WAVE3

And here are some photos by Father Pat Delahanty from the Catholic Conference: 

Some photos from KFTC member (and summer intern--yay!) Beth Bissmeyer are on her facebook page.

And a follow-up letter to the editor from Attica Scott, who gave the final words at the rally. Attica is with Kentucky Jobs with Justice, an ally in Kentucky Forward.

There are also more photos from the 24th here on our blog!

Thanks for all your work to try to move Kentucky forward!

Our bill to Restore Voting Rights for most Former Felons who have served their debt to society has come a long way in recent years.  Let's take a moment to take a step back and plan the road ahead which includes a lot of action in 2011, but really critical organizing in 2010 to get ready for it.

In the simplest terms, we have seven steps in front of us:

1. Build Grassroots Power - Develop leaders, collect postcards and petitions, register voters, build alliances, and educate the public about Voting Rights.

2. House Committee - Pass the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee in the first few weeks of the legislative session in February of 2011.

3. House Floor - Pass a 60% super-majority vote of the House in February of 2011. 

4. Senate Committee - Pass the Senate State and Local Government Committee in February or March of 2011.  We will need to put a lot of pressure on Senate leadership and Committee chair Damon Thayer to accomplish this. 

5. Senate Floor - Pass a 60% super-majority vote of the Senate in February or March of 2011.

(March 2011-November 2012. Secure in the knowledge that we will be on the ballot in 2012, we'll create a massive ground campaign to organize communities across the state and educate and mobilize leading up to election day.  We will also use the two primary elections and 2011 General Elections to build our collective electoral skills and power.)

6. General Election - November 6th, 2012.  We’ll need around 991,000 yes votes to ratify our constitutional amendment, including 50,000 people KFTC will mobilize directly, along with tens of thousands more mobilized by our allies.

7. Former Felons Vote – Starting in 2014.  Our goal is ultimately for many of Kentucky’s 186,000 currently disenfranchised citizens to get out and take-part in our democracy – to provide more representation for low-income and people of color communities and to generally make our democracy stronger.  To this end, we need to include former felons in the campaign and build ownership at every step.

Note that we’ve gotten through the third step in three consecutive years and have laid the groundwork to get much further in the Senate.

Almost all of these steps are in 2011, but the first and continuous step of building grassroots support is absolutely necessary and it’s something we have to be doing now in all of our communities across the state, particularly in key Senate areas to help in steps 4 and 5. 

KFTC members and allies had a great rally in Frankfort today for an adequate budget for Kentucky's schools, teachers, health-care and other critical services. 

Over 500 people came out in total and we had some great media coverage.

The rally was planned to coincide with the first day of the special legislative session to settle on a budget - something legislators failed to do in the regular legislative session earlier this year. 

Here are some of the first pictures of the day, but expect a larger report soon.

        

KFTC and our allies in the Kentucky Forward Coalition are rallying in support of a people’s budget—a budget with adequate investments, with enough money for our kids’ after-school programs, health centers, affordable tuition, and safe communities. Kentuckians are worth these investments, and we’re standing together to call on the legislature to commit to the fair revenue reforms we need to make them.

Our rally is today at 5:00 p.m. at the front Capitol steps in Frankfort. There will be teachers, students of all sorts, people who keep our communities healthy, and people who want Kentucky to be a place that attracts good jobs—all coming together to move Kentucky forward. Below are some details to help you participate. Hope to see you there!

If you can't make it, call in today and tomorrow!

If you can't make the trip to Frankfort, please participate from home by calling in to the Legislative Message Line today or tomorrow. Leave a message for your state representative and senator, along with Speaker Stumbo and Senate President Williams.  The number to the Legislative Message Line is 1-800-372-7181, and it's open from 8am to 4:30pm, M-F.

Message:
It's time to move Kentucky Forward.  I support Representative Wayne's plan for comprehensive tax reforms that are fair and adequate! 

Other details about the Kentucky Forward Rally...(And if you're coming, at this point, you probably already know these!)
What should I wear?
Dress for the weather! Aside from that, wear your green KFTC shirt. If you don’t have one of those, wear red, white and/or blue.

When should I get there?
The rally starts at 5:00 at the Capitol steps, so plan to get there by 4:30 or 4:45.

How should I get there?
There is likely a carpool from your area, so get in touch with your nearest chapter organizer. If you don’t have one nearby, call Jessica at 859.533.0613 or jessicabreen@kftc.org.

What should I bring?
Yourself and your friends! Your signs are also most welcome.

Driving directions From the West (Louisville)
Take 1-64 to exit number 53-B to Highway 127 (Northbound)
Drive North on 127 to intersection of 127 and 676 (the East-West Connector). Turn Right on Route 676. Go down the hill.
At the stoplight at the bottom of the hill, turn left onto Route 420. (If you cross over the Kentucky River on 676 you’ve gone to far.) Follow Route 420 as it runs parallel to the Kentucky River.
Follow Route 420 for about 1/2 a mile. You will soon see a large concrete structure hanging out over the roadway. This is the entrance to the Capitol Annex garage. Turn left into the Garage. Park anywhere except the 2nd level. Take the elevator to the top level (level 1) of the garage. In front of you, you’ll see the Annex. To your right, will be the Capitol. Join us at 5:00 p.m. for a rally on the front steps of the Capitol. These steps are all the way around the other side of the building.

Directions From the East (Lexington)
Take either 1-64 or U.S. 60 to Frankfort. From 1-64, take exit 58 and turn right onto US 60.
Follow US 60 past the East-West Connector, also called Route 676.
Stay on US 60 as it bends sharply to the left and becomes East Main Street. Follow this road towards downtown Frankfort.
As you travel along East Main Street/Route 60, you will see Capital Avenue coming in from the left. Turn left here and then proceed straight. You will come to the Capitol in about .5 miles. You can find parking on the street, beside the Capitol or Capitol Annex building, or in the Capitol Annex parking garage, which is located below ground on the left side of the capitol. Park anywhere except the 2nd level. Take the elevator to the top level (level 1) of the garage. In front of you, you’ll see the Annex. To your right, will be the Capitol. Join us at 5:00 p.m. for a rally on the front steps of the Capitol. These steps are all the way around the other side of the building.

Our rally starts on the Capitol Steps at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 5:45. You’ll be back in your car by 6:00.

It’s going to be great! Hope to see you there.

Governor Beshear just called legislators into a Special Session to come up with a budget  the General Assembly.  The Session will start on May 24th.

Given the starting points for the budget discussion, it's likely that the cuts will be deep and destructive.  In anticipation of likely cuts, colleges are calling for 6% tuition increases and the state's court system is cutting 113 jobs, as well as making cuts to the family court system. Meanwhile teachers are wondering how many after-school programs their students will lose and how many jobs will be cut for their school to operate, and community health centers wonder how they'll meet the rising needs.

Our legislators could choose to invest in Kentucky's people. 

We can accomplish great things through government.  We created public schools systems to provide opportunity, public health systems to keep ourselves well, and environmental and public safety systems to protect our air, water, and people.  For these to function—and to support our quality of life and our economy—these systems need adequate, stable investments of our public dollars.

That's not what we're getting in the anticipated budget, but it's what Kentuckians need, and what Kentuckians deserve.  Come say so!

Take Action!

Come rally at the Capitol in support of a better set of solutions on May 24. 

More information will be posted as we firm up more of the logistics.

When:  Monday, May 24 at 5pm

Where: Capitol grounds in Frankfort, location TBD

In the meantime…

Can you take three minutes to call the legislative message line?  Leave a message for your state representative and senator, along with Speaker Stumbo and Senate President Williams.  Tell them that Kentucky can't afford to go backwards.  Now is the time to pass a just budget and real revenue reforms.

The number to the Legislative Message Line is 1-800-372-7181, and it's open from 8am to 4:30pm, M-F. If those hours aren’t good for you, you can try your legislators at home.  Their home numbers are available through the LRC website.

Thanks, and we hope to see you on the 24th!

Students, can you spot Kentucky some cash? One more time?

The Kentucky Legislature didn't want to ask the state's richest to pay their fair share, so students, once again, are footing part of their bill. As the legislature anticipates the Special Session to balance the budget, Kentucky's public universities are calling for 5% and 6% tuition hikes in anticipation of budget cuts.  These increases are on top of a decade of tuition hikes that average out to be 10% a year. 

Over the last five years, in-state tuition for Kentucky's public universities has gone up about 57%.  Think about your family's income over the last five years.  Has it gone up 57%?  No way!  Not even close, right?  Most families are doing well just to have kept up with the 18% cost of living increase since 2005.

Well that's too bad, but what about financial aid?

Nope, not right now. 

Kentucky's College Access Program is supposed to help struggling students afford college through loans.  But CAPS is state funded, and is yet another victim of the legislators' failure to pass revenue reforms.  This year's deadline for students to apply for financial aid was March 15.  More than 16,000 students applied in the week leading up to the deadline.  Because of the legislature's failure to pass revenue reforms, each of those 16,599 students have been told that despite being qualified and meeting the deadline, they can't be helped because the state is out of money.  (You can read more in this Courier-Journal article. It also attracted the attention of the Huffington Post.)  This is a colossal failure on the part of our legislators who aren't standing up for comprehensive and fair revenue reforms.

But this isn't a new problem.  According to a MACED report about Investing in Kentucky's Working Families, almost half of the people who applied and qualified for need-based financial aid in 2008 were turned away, leaving 45,000 would-be students behind.  And in 2009, the funds available were $64 million short of the funds needed.

Folks are expected to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.  The very least that our legislators can do is stop cutting the straps.

Bottom line?

For the last nine years, our legislators have been able to choose between revenue reforms that ask the state's wealthiest to contribute their fair share, or continued cuts to all the state programs and services and systems that keep up healthy, wealthy, and wise, including higher ed.  For the last nine years, they've chosen the latter.  All of us, including our students, are paying the price.

Take Action!

Call your legislators!

It’s time to make your voice heard for meaningful revenue reforms to sustain public services. Please take three minutes to call your state representative and senator, along with Speaker Stumbo, and Senate President Williams.  Tell them that Kentucky shouldn't keep asking students to foot the bill for the state's wealthiest, and that now is the time to pass a just budget and real revenue reforms. You can find out the state representative and senator who serves your county, and their home contact information, here.

 Come rally with us in Frankfort!

When the legislators come back to Frankfort, we want to greet them with a clear message that Kentucky deserves better.  KFTC and allies are planning a 5 pm rally at the Capitol on the first day of the Special Session, whenever it takes place.  We’ll have more details when the Session is called, but please plan to participate!

On May 13th KFTC will have our first meeting with Governor Beshear.  KFTC has tried to meet with Governor Beshear for the past three years and are finally getting a meeting.  We are excited to have the opportunity to talk to Governor Beshear about ending mountain-top removal coal mining, moving beyond coal, and transitioning to a new economy in Eastern Kentucky that protects our land, water, and people.  Because we only have a half-hour and the Governor is only willing to meet with seven KFTC members, we need your help.

Help us convey the importance of this issue, the size and scope of the devastation that mountain-top removal coal mining is creating, and how many Kentuckians care about this issue. 

Please submit to KFTC artwork, photos, essays, letters, poems, personal stories, or any other forms of expression you have.  How do you feel about mountain-top removal?  What do you think transitioning to clean energy means for future generations? What do you think about the people and land of Eastern Kentucky?  Please tell us with your words, pictures, and ideas!

All work will be compiled and hand-delivered to Governor Beshear during our meeting with him.  KFTC will also use all of the wonderful submissions in our work year-round to promote a healthy and sustainable future for Kentucky!  All items are due by May 10th to ensure enough time to compile them.  Please call Carissa at 859-893-1147 with any questions.

When the 2010 General Assembly came to a close a few days ago, there had still not been any action from the Senate on House Bill 70, our bill to restore voting rights to most former felons once they have served their debt to society.  Despite passing the House with broad-bi-partisan support and despite having the votes we need in the Senate, a handful of Senate leaders including David Williams and Damon Thayer prevented the bill from coming to a vote in Committee. 

It’s a set-back, but we intend to keep pushing for voting rights along four general paths:
- Helping people through the existing process - We will be at a lot of community festivals this year and doing lots of door-to-door canvasses and other field work.  When we run into former felons who have completed their sentence, we can help them through the process to get their voting rights back through a pardon from the Governor on an individual basis.

- National Legislation – the Democracy Restoration act had its first hearing earlier this year.  It would restore voting rights to people after the end of their jail time, but only for purposes of voting in federal elections.  We intend to talk to our Kentucky US legislators about this issue.

- Litigation.  The NAACP won an important legal victory earlier this year in Washington State  challenging the constitutionality of felony voter disenfranchisement.  The same team that won that case is interested in working with us to challenge Kentucky’s law.  We’re exploring the possibility.

- HB 70 – Our primary strategy is still to pass a state constitutional amendment.  We will continue to build support behind the legislation, especially in key senate districts and will continue to meet with legislators throughout the year so we can be ready when the General Assembly re-convenes in January 2011.

The following is a power point presentation we've created to outline some of the problems in the House and Senate budget proposals and ways we can work to create a more fair and equitable budget. Click here to view this presentation in a larger window.