Teacher Rebellion Tests Republican Grip on Kentucky

Three years ago, Robin Cooper voted for Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. On Saturday, she vowed not to do it again.

The occupational therapist in Kentucky’s second largest school district has been one of the thousands of educators protesting at the state Capitol in recent weeks to oppose changes to their pension system and to ask lawmakers for more school funding.

They lost the pension fight, but Friday more than 30 school districts across the state closed so teachers could travel to the Capitol and ask Republican lawmakers to override Bevin’s veto of a two-year operating budget that included increased classroom spending. They did. Bevin responded by guaranteeing somewhere a child had been sexually assaulted, ingested poison or used illegal drugs because they were left home along by single parents who could not afford to find child care on short notice.

“This is not what I would have voted for had I known he was going to harass and try to ridicule and try to intimidate teachers,” Cooper said. “That makes me second guess his character and his vision for the Kentucky that I want.”

After electing a Republican governor in 2015 and giving the party full control of the