It’s no coincidence that this issue of KEA News mixes a focus on association leadership with information about the November 4 elections.

KEA activists, the members you see doing the association’s business in your school district, in your school or at your work site, recognize that their work in the association is the essential form of leadership. They know that joining KEA and participating at the local, state or national level help to make their professions and Kentucky’s public schools better.

KEA is run by members for members. Because of the thousands of volunteer hours logged each year by hundreds of active members across the Commonwealth, KEA has remained a strong and effective voice for public education in Kentucky for more than 157 years. KEA members helped lead the way in the implementation of KERA more than 20 years ago, which was a watershed moment for Kentucky’s public schools. Most recently, KEA members are providing leadership in the implementation of the new Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). KEA members are fighting for much-needed improvements to CIITS. And it was KEA’s leadership that gave new power to the voices of Kentucky educators through the TELL Kentucky survey and the annual “Let’s TALK: Conversations about Effective Teaching and Learning” conference.

Perhaps most important, it was the legislative activism of hundreds of KEA members at the Capitol and thousands more back home that convinced the Kentucky General Assembly to pass a state budget with more than $370 million in new funds for public schools—including mandatory pay raises for all public school employees. The “education-friendly” budget was a victory for KEA

members and a victory for all Kentucky public school students and their families.

Members’ legislative engagement is central to our ability to continue to advocate for all the resources necessary to adequately support Kentucky’s public schools. It is vital that public

school employees have the confidence to approach their state legislators and the knowledge to talk with them about local and state education issues. That level of member engagement creates the power to ask for and get what you need in order to give Kentucky’s children the 21st-century education they deserve.

However, legislative success does not begin and end with the annual sessions of the General Assembly. Legislative success really begins with political action. It is crucial that educators elect candidates who will support adequate school funding, defined benefit pensions, living wages, employment security for school employees, appropriate curriculum standards and collective bargaining. The only way you can know whether a candidate is education friendly is to become an informed voter.

KEPAC, the Kentucky Educators’ Political Action Committee, exists to identify and elect education friendly candidates. KEPAC is a non-partisan organization separate from KEA which all KEA members are eligible to join and which is funded exclusively by voluntary contributions. No KEA member dues

money goes to support KEPAC.KEPAC contributors are organized

according to where they live and vote. Every Kentucky county has a KEPAC county committee with an elected chair and vice chair. Counties are grouped by Kentucky senate district, which are

referred to as KEPAC Senate Territories. The chair of each Senate Territory serves on the KEPAC State Committee.

During each election cycle, the KEPAC State Committee decides which candidates to recommend in state races. Incumbents with proven records of support for public schools routinely receive endorsements. In open races or in races with incumbents whose voting records on education issues cause concern, constituents who are KEPAC contributors interview the candidates and make a recommendation to the state

committee.On pages four and five of this issue

there is a complete list of candidates for the Kentucky House and Senate who are endorsed by KEPAC. They are listed by House and Senate District. If you are not certain which districts you live and vote in, you can find out quickly by going to the website of the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, at www.lrc.ky.gov, and clicking on “Who’s My Legislator?”

Candidates for federal office are selected for endorsement by the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education with input from KEA members. This year, the NEA Fund endorsed Alison Lundergan Grimes for US Senate, John Yarmuth in the Third Congressional District (Louisville), and Elizabeth Jensen in the Sixth Congressional District (Lexington and surrounding counties).

If you want to be a leader for your profession, for your school, for your students and for your community, start by being an informed voter. When you go to the polls on Tuesday, November 4, consider the candidates recommended by your fellow educators.

Be an education voter!

Leadership and political actionFor public school educators, they are two sides of the same coin

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Kentucky Education Association November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2

‘I want to do my part as a KEA member. I just don’t know how.’

Do one more thing for your students: Vote! On November 4, support candidates who will support you

You spend your days thinking about how you can help each student in your care achieve his or her potential. You spend your days keeping students safe, teaching them to read, feeding them a healthy lunch, and encouraging their creativity.

I hope that occasionally you also think about who makes decisions that determine your students’ learning conditions and your own working conditions and how you can influence those decisions. I hope you spend time

working to influence those decisions.

In many cases, the

Kentucky General Assembly makes those decisions. Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate decide:

• Whether Kentucky has class size limits;

• How much Kentucky spends on students’ learning materials, your professional development, and school technology; and

• Your compensation, including salary, health benefits and retirement systems.

If I listed all the ways that members of the General Assembly influence your professional lives, it would fill the pages of this edition of KEA News. Let it suffice to say that almost everything about public education in Kentucky is decided by the General Assembly.

That leads to the point where you are in control. Because of our amazing system of democracy, voters elect those who govern them. That makes elected officials – including state representatives and senators – responsible to you. You’re the boss.

The only fly in the ointment is that too many educators don’t vote. This amazes me. Educators – like all public employees – are almost wholly dependent on elected officials for their professional and economic survival. Their students are dependent on those officials for their educational survival.

If you, like most educators, see what’s wrong with education today, it’s tempting to vote against all incumbents. With the spate of political ads that saturate television and radio, it’s tempting to

pull the covers up and ignore the lot of politicians and candidates.

It’s dismaying to realize how much worse it could be. In other states where voters made what I consider bad decisions, teachers have lost all job protection, seen their retirement systems diminished, and become subject to evaluations largely dependent on student test scores. Students have seen their toxic test loads increase and the sizes of their classes increase. Communities have seen an increase in questionable, unaccountable charter schools.

What I would ask of all Kentucky educators is that they become educated voters and make sure they know the positions of those who covet their votes. Here are questions to ask those who are asking for your vote:

• Do you support increased school funding?

• Do you support maintaining educators’ job protections and ability to bargain?

• Do you oppose charter schools?I’m sure that almost daily you start

your day with a mental, written or electronic “to do” list. On November 4, please make the first item on your list “VOTE.” Your future and your students’ depend on your taking action.

Mary Ann BlankenshipKEA Executive Director

Stephanie WinklerKEA President

If I had a nickel for every time a KEA member has said that to me, I’d be rich! Many members want to find a way to become involved in the association they belong to but simply don’t know how.

The answer is simple: just ask!KEA has unlimited ways for our

members to add their own rich voices to many types of conversations. To find the

way that is right for you, should first just stop and

take a minute to ask yourself one question: “What am I passionate about?” Once you have an answer (or answers) to that question, KEA staff and leaders can help you find a way to take your passions and turn them into action.

Our KEA vision statement reads, “KEA is the preeminent voice for public education.” But that voice doesn’t come from a building or an institution. It comes from the very members of KEA. YOU ARE KEA! Your voice, and the voices of your

42,000 fellow professionals who belong, make up the voice of KEA. When we use our voices together we send strong messages to others who try to steer the direction of public education in ways that are contradictory to our core values and beliefs.

Take, for example, the classified employee who works in an in-school suspension setting and worries about keeping kids safe at school. She has a passion for school safety issues and has volunteered to sit on the Kentucky Center for School Safety board as a representative of the association.

Consider the high school science teacher who has a passion for improved science education. She is using her talents as a KEA trainer for our Next Generation Science Standards professional development workshop.

What about the student program member who is passionate about helping to relieve the huge amounts of college debt weighing heavily on the backs of fellow pre-service teachers? He organized other students to join him in taking the NEA

pledge to support the “Degrees not Debt” campaign.

Then there is the teacher member sitting at her desk for hours working on her self-assessment reflection in CIITS, who feels helpless and trapped under a mountain of paper work. She sends a passionate email to me asking for help. I send her request to the Kentucky Department of Education and they respond to her directly to help alleviate that stress and address her problem.

All of these examples have one thing in common: passion. Passion for the work we do every day in every way. All it takes is making that leap from inaction to action. KEA is the vehicle to do this. You don’t have to run for an office or serve on a committee to be involved. You just have to do what you love and let others know about it. If you want to use your passion to become more involved in KEA, send me an email at swinkler@kea.org. My passion is helping members ensure that every child in Kentucky receives a world class education from great public schools.

I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2 Kentucky Education Association

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Why should ESP members attend the KEA Delegate Assembly and the NEA RA?

“In the case of the Delegate Assembly, you get to be around school employees from other parts of the state who do the same things that you do on a daily basis, and you learn from those people. There is no professional development whatever for classified school employees in school districts. Learning opportunities are magnified at the NEA RA, because you meet people from all over the country who work in schools and have the same employment concerns as you. You may learn from them things they do that you haven’t thought about doing in your own school district. So it’s like professional development.

“I have learned a lot through my participation in the state and national assemblies. I have learned about the political issues that affect all public educators. I have learned to bring back information to my members about their rights. Attending the DA and the NEA RA has offered me leadership opportunities and has raised my awareness about the value we all have in educating every child.”

-- Nancy Toombs, Custodial Supervisor, South Heights Elementary School, Henderson County, and President of KEA’s Kentucky

Education Support Professionals Association district

KEA NEWSVolume 51, Issue 2;

November 2014

Stephanie Winkler, President;Lisa Petrey-Kirk,Vice President;

Mary Ann Blankenship, Executive Director; Charles Main, EditorPeriodical postage paid at

Louisville, Kentucky. KEA News is published five times a year, in

September, November, March, May and July, by the Kentucky Education

Association, 401 Capital Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601. Phone 800-

231-4532. KEA News is the official publi cation of KEA and reaches all KEA members. The annual subscription rate to members is

$1.50, included in annual dues. The subscription rate to others is $5.

ISSN 0164-3959Postmaster: Send address

changes toKEA News, 401 Capital Avenue,

Frankfort, KY 40601

Leadership in the Kentucky Education Association takes many forms. Which leadership role you choose to assume will depend on the amount of time you are willing to commit to the work of the association.

At the local levelThe simplest way to get started

on the path to leadership in KEA is to go to a meeting, whether it’s a meeting of the members in your building after work or a regular meeting of the local association. That’s where you can find out what your local is doing, what it needs, and what you can do to help. That’s where decisions are made.

Every organization has elected officers of some kind. Not all KEA locals have the same structure, but they typically elect a president, a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer.

Many locals also designate members to take care of such duties as membership, communication (such as sending email to members or publishing a newsletter) and marking special occasions (like American Education Week or Read Across America). Not all of these roles are elected. Some are filled when a member says, “I’ll do it.”

The first line of contact for many KEA members is the association representative (AR) in their school building or work

site. The basic duty of ARs is to share information from state, district and local leaders with the members—and, often, the potential members—in their buildings. Becoming the AR can be as simple as saying, “I volunteer!”

In addition, each local association elects delegates to send to the KEA Delegate Assembly. If you would like to be one of your local’s DA delegates and have a say in making KEA’s policies and priorities, find out when the delegates are to be elected and run.

At the district levelKEA has thirteen district

associations. Each district association has its own governance structure, which includes elected officers, members of the KEA Board of Directors, and representatives to the five KEA standing committees (Visibility, Diversity, Compliance/Constitution, Government Relations and Budget).

Every KEA local is part of a district association, and sends voting representatives to the district’s meetings. Ask your local leaders how to get to be one of those representatives. Even if those spots are taken, attend the district meetings anyway. There you’ll get a bigger picture of KEA’s activities and involvement.

At the state levelThe Delegate Assembly, which

meets annually in April, is the association’s highest decision making body. Delegates vote on KEA’s budget and its legislative priorities and decide the fate of proposed amendments to the association’s constitution and by-laws. They also debate and decide on “new business items,” program and policy initiatives for the association which any delegate may propose. Any member may run in her or his KEA local for election to a DA delegate position.

The DA elects the KEA president and vice president, along with the two KEA representatives to the NEA Board of Directors and two “at large” ethnic minority members of the KEA Board.

At the national levelThe NEA Board of Directors

currently has 170 voting members, elected by members of the association’s 54 constituencies. The two members elected to represent KEA are elected at the KEA Delegate Assembly and serve three-year terms. The NEA directors travel to Washington, DC, several times each year to attend meetings at NEA headquarters. During these trips they often go to the U.S. Capitol to meet with members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation to

discuss issues affecting public schools, public school employees, and retired educators.

One NEA board seat will be up for election at the 2015 DA, and the other in 2017. You need not be a delegate to the assembly to run for NEA director but you must be a delegate in order to vote.

Each year KEA sends more than 100 state and local delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly, which is the nation’s largest annual exercise in participatory democracy. Typically, more than 9,000 public school educators from the United States and U.S. territories attend the RA, which will be held in July 2015 in Orlando, Florida. Delegates meet for six days to debate important national issues around public education, elect NEA officers and set NEA policies and positions.

KEA’s state delegates to the 2015 NEA RA will be elected in an online election in March 2015. If you would like to be one of those delegates, complete the delegate nomination form on page six of this issue and follow the instructions to submit it. Locals are allocated delegates based on their membership. Contact your local president to learn how to get elected from your local.

You don’t have to be elected to an office to be a leader. You just have to be willing to give of your time and talents.

Ready to be a KEA leader? It’s this simple

District 4: Dorsey RidleyDistrict 10: Dennis ParrettDistrict 12: Kathy RyanDistrict 14: Jimmy HigdonDistrict 18: Robin Webb

District 22: Tom BufordDistrict 24: Jason SteffenDistrict 28: R.J. PalmerDistrict 30: Brandon Smith

KEPAC, the Kentucky Educators’ Political Action Committee, recommends these 73 candidates for election to the Kentucky General Assembly on Tuesday, November 4.

Each of these candidates was selected by KEPAC members based on their stated positions on issues that directly affect public education. Incumbent legislators and candidates who have held other elective office were evaluated in part on their relevant voting records. The purpose of the KEPAC endorsement process is to identify and recommend the candidates for office who are “education-friendly” and will support policies and legislation that benefit Kentucky’s public schools, public school students and public school employees.

Recommended Candidates for the Kentucky Senate

District 1: Steven Jack RudyDistrict 2: Jesse WrightDistrict 3: Gerald WatkinsDistrict 4: Jarrod JacksonDistrict 6: Will R. CourseyDistrict 7: John WarrenDistrict 8: John C. TilleyDistrict 10: Dean Schamore

District 11: David A. WatkinsDistrict 12: Jim GoochDistrict 13: Jim GlennDistrict 14: Tommy ThompsonDistrict 15: Brent YontsDistrict 16: Martha Jane KingDistrict 19: Michael MeredithDistrict 20: Jody Richards

Candidates recommended by KEPAC for election to the Kentucky General Assembly

Recommended Candidates for the Kentucky House

Maps produced by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission Geographic Information Systems Office. (gis@lrc.ky.gov)

KEPAC, the Kentucky Educators’ Political Action Committee, is a permanent committee affiliated with the Kentucky Education Association. All KEA members are eligible to voluntarily contribute to KEPAC, which uses the money to support pro-public education candidates in state and local elections. No KEA member dues dollars support KEPAC.

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Kentucky Education Association November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2

Candidates recommended by KEPAC for election to the Kentucky General AssemblyRecommended Candidates for the Kentucky HouseDistrict 22: Wilson StoneDistrict 23: Johnny BellDistrict 24: Terry MillsDistrict 25: Jimmie LeeDistrict 27: Jeff GreerDistrict 32: Ashley MillerDistrict 34: Mary Lou MarzianDistrict 35: Jim WayneDistrict 39: Russ MeyerDistrict 40: Dennis HorlanderDistrict 46: Larry ClarkDistrict 47: Rick W. RandDistrict 49: Linda Howlett BelcherDistrict 50: Audrey HaydonDistrict 51: John “Bam” CarneyDistrict 52: Ken UpchurchDistrict 53: Kent StevensDistrict 55: Jacqueline ColemanDistrict 56: James KayDistrict 57: Derrick W. GrahamDistrict 63: Diane St. OngeDistrict 66: Addia Kathryn WuchnerDistrict 67: Dennis KeeneDistrict 68: Shae Hornback

District 70: Mitchel B. Denham, Jr.District 72: Sannie OverlyDistrict 74: Richard HendersonDistrict 75: Kelly FloodDistrict 76: Ruth Ann PalumboDistrict 78: Thomas M. McKeeDistrict 79: Susan WestromDistrict 80: David MeadeDistrict 81: Rita H. SmartDistrict 84: Fitz SteeleDistrict 85: Tommy TurnerDistrict 86: Jim StewartDistrict 87: Rick NelsonDistrict 90: Tim CouchDistrict 91: Cluster HowardDistrict 92: John W. ShortDistrict 93: Chris HarrisDistrict 94: Leslie A. CombsDistrict 95: Gregory D. StumboDistrict 96: Jill YorkDistrict 97: Hubert CollinsDistrict 98: Tanya PullinDistrict 99: Rocky AdkinsDistrict 100: Kevin Sinnette

Maps produced by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission Geographic Information Systems Office. (gis@lrc.ky.gov)

KEPAC, the Kentucky Educators’ Political Action Committee, is a permanent committee affiliated with the Kentucky Education Association. All KEA members are eligible to voluntarily contribute to KEPAC, which uses the money to support pro-public education candidates in state and local elections. No KEA member dues dollars support KEPAC.

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November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2 Kentucky Education Association

Continued from page 4

Active KEA members who are interested in attending the 2015 NEA RA may nominate themselves to be elected as delegates. Active members will elect state delegates in an online election scheduled for March 1-30, 2015, at www.KEA.org. Retired and student members will choose their delegates to the RA in separate elections.

Nominees will run and be elected in either the “east” or “west” region. Your region is determined by the county where you work. You may run and vote only in the appropriate region. Members who wish to run in the delegate election should complete the nomination form below and return it to KEA by Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:00 pm (EST).

Only the official nomination form (whether the original or a copy) will be accepted. You must limit the biographical information you provide to 25 words or less.

KEA reserves the right to edit the information you submit for spelling and grammar, and will include on the election ballot only the first 25 words of any submission. You may submit a photo with your nomination form, but that is not required. If you choose to submit a photo, a regular paper photo is acceptable; a photo submitted electronically should be submitted in JPEG format.

Properly completed forms may be submitted one of three ways: • fax to (502) 696-8915;• e-mail to KEA-NEA-delegate@kea.org; • regular mail to KEA, Attn: NEA

Delegate Election, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601.All nomination forms must be

received at KEA by the deadline. Forms received after the deadline will not be accepted. More information is available at www.KEA.org, including the east and west region lists, the KEA policy on stipends for delegates and an electronic form you can complete in order to nominate yourself online.

Nominations for state delegates to NEA RA due January 15

You can help KEA identify and recognize an outstanding individual or group encouraging cultural diversity and tolerance in Kentucky schools by nominating them for the Lucy Harth Smith /Atwood S. Wilson Award for Human and Civil Rights in Education.

The KEA Smith Wilson Award is presented to an individual or group for continuing work in the area of multicultural education, contributions to the advancement of educational opportunities for minorities, contributions to the availability of multicultural educational materials, contributions in the areas of innovative and creative strategies to advance and develop leadership opportunities

for gender equitable and culturally diverse populations and leadership in the field of human relations.

Nominations for the 2015 Smith-Wilson Award will be accepted until February 6, 2015. To begin the nomination process, contact the member of the KEA Diversity Committee elected from your district. A list of the KEA Diversity Committee members and the Smith-Wilson nomination form can be found on the KEA website at www.KEA.org.

For additional information, contact Bridget Brown at KEA headquarters in Frankfort by calling (800) 231-4532.

Smith-Wilson Award nominations due by February 6

Four KEA members will each be awarded a $200 scholarship at the Smith-Wilson Award Breakfast for submitting the winning entries in the lesson plan contest administered annually by the KEA Diversity Committee. The deadline for submission of entries is February 6, 2015. All entries must be submitted to Bridget Brown at KEA, 401 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601.

The lesson plan contest entry form and format requirements are available on the KEA website at www.KEA.org.

By entering the contest, you consent to the publication of your lesson plan submission if selected as a winning entry. The winning lesson plan entries will be posted on the members-only section of the KEA website following the KEA Delegate Assembly.

Diversity lesson plan entries due at KEA February 6

Kentucky Education Association November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2

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November 2014 Volume 51 Issue No. 2 Kentucky Education Association

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Kyle Smith, KEA SP president, was front and center for the political speeches at the annual St. Jerome’s Parish picnic this summer in Fancy Farm, Kentucky.

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Kentucky Education AssociationNovember 2014

www.KEA.org Volume 51 Issue 2