After years of leading education activism efforts, a teacher is running to unseat one of Kentucky’s top Republicans.
Tiffany Dunn filed Monday to run against House Speaker David Osborne in the May Republican primary for House District 59, which covers the bulk of Oldham County.
An outspoken education activist, Dunn teaches ESL (English as a second language) students at Lassiter Middle School in Jefferson County and lives in Oldham County.
“I’m a teacher, but first and foremost I’m a mother and also a taxpayer,” Dunn said ahead of her filing. “I’m demanding that our children get what they’re entitled to, which is a fully funded public education which includes first-class resources and teachers.”
A lifelong Republican, Dunn voted for former Gov. Matt Bevin before leading protests against him after what she called his anti-public education stances and bullying remarks about educators.
She co-founded Save Our Schools KY in 2016, a group that opposes school-choice measures such as charter schools and private school scholarship tax credits, while asking to fully fund public schools.
Her platform will follow those beliefs, Dunn said. She supports fully funding traditional public schools while opposing “attempts to divert public tax dollars” to private or charter schools.
Osborne, of Prospect, who has served in the House since 2005, supports scholarship tax credits — a stance unpopular with Dunn and other educators.
She’s “disappointed” he and other lawmakers didn’t stand up for teachers during protests around pension reform in past sessions, she said.
Uncertainty surrounding pensions has led teachers to leave the profession early, Dunn said, aggravating a pressing teacher shortage.
If elected, she would push for solutions to the shortage, including keeping the existing defined benefits pension plan and boosting teacher pay.
“You attract teachers the same way you attract people to other professions: pay and benefits,” Dunn said.
She backs new revenue streams such as casino gambling and sports betting, plus tax reform. Through tax breaks, some industries such as the horse racing and banking industries aren’t paying their share, she said.
“No one should receive tax breaks due to their ability to lobby our legislators,” she said.
Decreasing the amount of students’ state testing will continue to be a priority for Dunn. Last year, she helped write a bill with Osborne and Rep. Jason Nemes that would let parents opt out of state testing.
That bill did not make it to a committee vote. A similar bill has not been prefiled for the 2020 session.
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Written by Olivia Krauth. Cross-posted from the
Courier-Journal via the Kentucky Press News Service.