Heath said pension reform is needed but changes need to be made to the current proposal.
“Once House leadership and Senate leadership have set down with all the information they have available and they reach what they say is the best compromise they can come up with that saves the pension and does the least amount of harm to the people that the pension is for, at that point, I'll be on board,” Heath said.
Shanna Mills, a teacher at Graves County High School, says she would face a $120 per month pay cut under the governor's proposal, in addition to reduced benefits and no incentive to work after 27 years.
Mills says she understands that teachers will have to make concessions, but she says it isn't the teachers' fault that the pension system is in the situation that it is.
“The legislators have caused this mess and I look to them for guidance in fixing it with as little penalties to teachers, current and future, as possible.”
Republican State Senator Stan Humphries also attended Thursday night's meeting and said he too was opposed to the proposed pension bill. Republican State Representative Kenny Imes was also in attendance Thursday night but did not speak.
About 100 people attended the meeting, hosted by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
