© 2024 WUKY
background_fid.jpg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Legislative Leftovers: Teacher Pensions

Josh James
/
WUKY

While Governor Steve Beshear and other state leaders are praising the 2015 session as one of most productive sessions in recent years, several major debates were left unresolved, including how best to plug a massive funding hole in the Kentucky Teacher Retirement System.

In addition to a student-driven bill seeking input on the superintendent search process and a local option sales tax to fund community projects, fixes for the state teacher pension system failed to emerge from the General Assembly this session.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo backed an ambitious $3.3 billion bonding proposal – the largest in state history – to shore up the cash-strapped system. He later dropped that number to $1.9 billion, but negotiations petered out in the final hours. Down the hall, lawmakers in the Senate wanted to see a comprehensive study before acting – and that could still happen before the body reconvenes next year.  

"The study is going to show that it's going to need more money. I don't that's going to be any big surprise, but if they want to commission a study we certainly wouldn't have any objections to that," Stumbo said.

Senate President Robert Stivers, meanwhile, has quoted the KTRS director as saying it would be 20-plus years before the system could no longer pay out to retirees.

"There is a need, but a sense of urgency may not be as great as was portrayed," he told reporters Wednesday.

Stivers says his caucus is committed to supplying an infusion of money that will be crucial to the system’s long-term solvency. The KTRS shortfall currently stands at $14 billion.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
Related Content