A pension is still a promise.

Ever since the pension plan was passed, teachers have expressed major concerns and are awaiting announcements from officials regarding lobbying the plan.

Many teachers across the state have strong opinions about the newly announced pension plan. Sessions have been held to discuss the plan. Teachers all across the school are ready to rally for their rights.

A session was held Tuesday, Nov. 2 about the changes to teachers pensions. Senate representatives Russell Webber and Dan Johnson came to the Paroquet Springs Conference Center. They took questions from the audience about how the changes in the pension plan would affect teachers. “It was supposed to be a meeting where we could voice our opinions and get informed about how our retirements and our pensions are going to be affected,” said English teacher, Kari Haney.

Teachers are concerned about the plan because it no longer allows them to have a good retirement and the other benefits they once had. “For me as a young teacher or for teachers who are close to retirement but not quite there yet, it’s going to be a huge change and that scares me,” said Haney.

Many teachers are encouraging anyone affected to lobby the plan. “I absolutely agree with lobbying the plan. If you don’t fight for your rights and know your rights, they can get taken away and the original changes are detrimental to teachers and their retirement. I would encourage everybody that is affected by this to rally,” said Haney.

Teachers think it’s important to lobby the pension plan not only because it affects them, but it could affect students in the future. If people don’t want to become teachers because of the decreased benefits and the retirement being so bad, there won’t be any teachers to teach. “I also think that folks that may not specifically rely on that pension understand the impact it will have on our ability to recruit teachers, police, firefighters or government workers in the future. We have a hard time finding math and science teachers right now that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” said freshman principal, Kari Stewart.

If the Senate goes into special session, the whole county will be off and the teachers will be able to rally in Frankfort. However, the decision of when the teachers will be able to lobby the plan is pending. “It depends on the Senate and I don’t even think the Senate knows at this point. The school will be informed when a decision is made,” said Haney. Once a decision is made, all teachers are encouraged to go and rally for their rights.