Proponents of Senate Bill 4 say all it does is rein in a system that's drifted from its original intent. That system? Kentucky teachers can collect up to ten unused sick days a year and that amount can be used at retirement to boost their pensions.
But Sen. Jimmy Higdon says districts have added policies over the years that allow personal and other types of leave to roll into additional sick days — creating an extra burden on the teacher pension system and by extension, taxpayers. Under Higdon's bill, while all accumulated days could still be cashed out, no more than the ten original sick days would count toward pensions.
"It's not a use-it-or-lose-it," he said Wednesday. "All other accumulated days will continue to accumulate. They can still be paid out at the end of the teacher's career, but it will not count toward their final calculation for retirement."
Jessica Hiler is a kindergarten teacher in Fayette County. She receives the standard ten sick days along with three personal days a year. If SB4 passes as is, she could get a one-time payout for those unused personal days, but they wouldn't figure into her pension.
In the more immediate term, Hiler says the bill has other knock-on effects as the state grapples with an ongoing teacher and substitute shortage.
"Teachers are already taking their time because we don't have enough subs to cover for our kids, so this will force us to really have to take that time. That time has value to us at the end of our career and there's so many things we give and give and give during our education career and that is a benefit at the end, to have that time that we bank," she says.
The bill would not be retroactive, meaning the ten-day policy would not go into effect until June 30 of this year.
So, what to do about the lack of substitute teachers?
Kentucky lawmakers are weighing a measure that would permit applicants without college experience to fill in as substitute teachers.
It's an indication of just how dire the teacher shortage has become in some areas of the state. House Bill 387 would reduce the requirements for substitute teachers — from at least a bachelor's degree or 64 hours of college credit to a high school diploma, or equivalent.
Bill sponsor Republican Rep. Timmy Truett is an elementary school principal in Jackson County. He said his bill wouldn't force any superintendents to adopt the looser standards, but it would open a path for others who may not fit the usual profile.
"There's probably a lot of people out there who would love to be in the classrooms, helping teach... retired secretaries and I can think of all kinds of just different examples who I would love to have in my building but can't get them there because they don't have those 64 hours," Truett said.
Representative and Fayette County School employee Killian Timoney said the substitute shortage is pressing, but cautioned about lowering expectations.
"I had a sub once show up and say, 'I'm here to babysit,' and we had a clear conversation that you are not babysitting, that there is instruction that's going to go on, there's a system that you're a part of now, so that's one of the things I want to make sure we stay away from," he said.
The bill, which is on its way to the House, would make substitute applicants eligible for an emergency certification lasting one year — pending a background check.
