Thread by @mandy_mclaren

I’ll be watching and tweeting any and all education mentions 👇 — expect there to be quite a few. #sotc #kyga20

As our beloved @TomLoftus_CJ is saying right now on KET, Beshear has an upcoming budget address, too.

”More revenue is needed to find public schools the way he said he was going to fund them,” Tom says.

Will Beshear make specific calls on revenue tonight? Or wait? We’ll see.

@TomLoftus_CJ Well, that didn't take long.

Reference #1: Beshear says improving *public* education can't be "just talk."

@TomLoftus_CJ While making an appeal for unity, Beshear pulls no punches on the challenges the state faces, including:

- 22% of our children live in poverty ...
- some of the highest child abuse and neglect rates in the nation ...
- 45th in the country for high school diploma attainment

@TomLoftus_CJ On the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality, Beshear said Kentuckians rely on each other to be pulled up.

Credits his teachers at Dawson Springs Independent Schools for pulling him up.

Beshear calls out the "hope" provided by the states Family Resource & Youth Service Centers -- at which he slightly stumbled because, yes, this is difficult to say.

Beshear gets applause for his decision to waive GED testing fees

courier-journal.com/story/news/202…

"Public education has the power to transform and it will be prioritized during this administration."

*applause*

"A pension is a promise and it must be treated as such."

*applause*

Beshear now talking money, honey.

Says state must invest in "infrastructure, workforce training and most importantly, education."

On infrastructure -- yet education related -- Beshear calls for high-speed internet in every corner of the state.

All KY public schools have internet, but in many rural areas, kids don't have it when they go home.

Ok, I thought this was going to be a section devoted to investment, but Beshear has pivoted to healthcare issues including:

- high insulin prices (stop)
- surprise medical bills (stop)
- opioid crisis (tax drug companies and use $ to address education)

OK EDUCATION HERE WE GO

"The key to breaking cycles of poverty ... to climbing out of the 40s in so many rankings that we don't want to be in, the key to that right now is found in our public schools."

Time for "all of us" to support public ed.

"This is a new start with a new governor ... We can wipe the slate clean.

We can move forward in the support of public education together. "

"Investing in our public schools means investing in our teachers. And those teachers deserve a raise. They are on the forefront of every problem that we talk about in these chambers."

"We face a teacher shortage that threatens the future of our children, ... We figured out to give tax incentives to corporations so i know we can figure out how to give a living wage to (teachers)."

On his proposal for $2,000 raises: "We can and we must afford it."

Beshear also makes strong call for restoring higher ed funding -- key to addressing poverty, he says.

🚨"STAY TUNED" BECAUSE *EDUCATION FIRST* BUDGET IS COMING 🚨

Beshear calls for sports betting bill -- that might be the only talk we get tonight about potential new revenue options ...

"In just two weeks ... we'll be back here again with the budget address... we have transformed a budget of pain into one of progress."