Kentucky Can Do Better!
KEJA Calls on Lawmakers to Enact Fair & Adequate Tax Reform
Press Conference Statement
by Angela Perry:
January 19, 2006
Hello,
I’m Angela Perry from Louisville. I’m a single mother raising
four really good kids while living on disability because I am legally
blind. I struggle to provide a safe home for my children and make sure
that they grow up healthy and have a good education.
I volunteer at every opportunity at each of my kids’ four different schools. I see in those schools and in my children’s lives the impact of inadequate funding.
Two years ago, my eight-year-old son received tutoring in an after school program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When funding was cut, the 2-day tutoring program became a 1-day program on Saturdays. Funding cuts have now eliminated the program all together. Now, my son is falling behind, and they might put him in special education classes. Yet, my son has no learning disability or behavior problems.
And, as the budget gets tighter, their schools have to make tough decisions about how many teachers they can hire and class sizes. This makes it even tougher for my son. In Jefferson Co., the student to teacher ratio is 17:1, for the whole state it’s 16:1. (1) The national ratio is 13:1! (2) Forcing our schools to make these choices just isn’t right.
Kentucky ought to do better by its children. I do my part my loving and nurturing them, seeing that they have good home to the best of my abilities. I give them my very best. It is the responsibility of our state government to fully fund their educational needs, to offer them the very best of its resources.
My education is minimal at best. I want better for my children. Doesn’t everybody? I’m here to ask our leaders to lead and find a way to meet our children’s needs. Their future is at stake. Kentucky can do better. Together, we can do better. Thank you.
Back to Pressroom