#RedforEd Teachers Strike Looms in Kentucky

Leaders of the #RedforEd movement in Kentucky are threatening a statewide teachers strike if legislators in the Kentucky General Assembly pass legislation they oppose.

Late Friday, KY 120 United, which Breitbart News reported is “a #RedforEd associated group, which, according to its Facebook page, was founded on March 8, 2018, just a few days after 24-year-old teacher Noah Karvelis launched the #RedforEd movement nationally in the first week of March 2018,” tweeted out their list of demands of legislators:

Click on the graphic for info. Call! Everyday! Comment “done” when your call is completed. #120Strong pic.twitter.com/nJjhNioXEx

— 120Strong (@120Strong) March 8, 2019

As Breitbart News reported in the first article of the #RedforEd series last month:

A well-funded and subversive leftist movement of teachers in the United States threatens to tilt the political balance nationwide in the direction of Democrats across the country as Republicans barely hang on in key states that they need to hold for President Donald Trump to win re-election and for Republicans to have a shot at retaking the House and holding onto their Senate majority.

This teachers union effort, called #RedforEd, has its roots in the very same socialism that President Trump vowed in his 2019 State of the Union address to stop, and it began in its current form in early 2018 in a far-flung corner of the country before spreading nationally. Its stated goals–higher teacher pay and better education conditions–are overshadowed by a more malevolent political agenda: a leftist Democrat uprising designed to flip purple or red states to blue, using the might of a significant part of the education system as its lever.

On Saturday a number of teachers around the state continued their political activism.

“Teachers from Floyd County and the surrounding areas stood united in front of the Attorney General’s office in Prestonsburg on Saturday. The biggest concern was for House Bill 205, which would use tax credits and scholarships to reimburse a parent for sending kids to private or charter schools. Education leaders said every superintendent is against the bill,” WSAX reported.

Floyd County is home to 6,000 public school students, about one percent of the 685,000 students enrolled in the state’s public schools.

WSAX  reported these additional details of Saturday’s political event in Prestonburg:

“The bills that are being introduced are trying to chip away at what we’re trying to do for our students,” Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, (D) – District 29, said.

Teachers at the rally said the bill is concerning because public schools are already not fully funded.

After a one day sickout called for by KY 120 United ended on February 28, local teachers in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), the second largest system in the state that encompasses much of the city of Lousville, staged a wildcat sickout.

“Over 100,000 JCPS students missed class Wednesday and Thursday due to the teacher sickout. With the legislative session continuing Monday, the district and the Jefferson County Teachers Association have come up with a plan that would allow JCPS teachers to continue a presence in Frankfort while keeping class in session,” WAVE reported:

The plan would put three teachers from each school in Frankfort to protest for each day of the session. Classes will continue with extra subs and central office staff filling in.

Some advocacy groups say it just won’t work.

“It’s probably win-win for them, but it’s not win-win for the rank in file teachers, not for the students and not win-win for the community,” Gay Adelmann with Dear JCPS said.

Adelmann anticipates schools will be forced to close again most of next week.

Dear JCPS is an activist blog established by the Adelmann family after they moved to Louisville in 2012 that advocates for, among other things “Fully Funded Public Education” and “Equitable Access to Quality Public Education.”

The Kentucky General Assembly is expected to meet in full session on Tuesday, and teachers from around the state, led by KY 120 United, are will be a vocal presence at the State Capitol in Frankfort throughout the day, and until the end of the state legislature’s current session.