Hours after both houses of the Kentucky legislature passed a pension bill that will mostly affect future teachers and state workers, Jefferson County Public Schools announced on Twitter all schools will be closed today.
ALERT: Due to significant teacher absences and the inability to safely cover a large number of classes with substitute teachers in many of our schools, all @JCPSKY schools will be closed today, March 30, 2018.
— JCPS (@JCPSKY) March 30, 2018
Similar announcements have been made by school districts across the state, including in Oldham County and Fayette County.
A JCPS spokesman told Courier-Journal that the absences were caused by a large number of teachers calling in sick.
As Capitol Reporter Ryland Barton reported late last night, both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly passed a last-minute pension bill attached to an unrelated bill dealing with governance of sewage districts.
The 291-page bill would no longer offer traditional pension plans to teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2019.
New teachers would instead receive cash-balance retirement plans that would invest retirement contributions from employees and the state, and guarantee that the plans wouldn’t lose money during a stock market crash.
The bill would also cap the amount of sick leave that teachers can accrue for retirement purposes as of Dec. 31, 2018.
In a Facebook post, the Jefferson County Teachers Association called for teachers to rally at the Capitol in protest of the pension bill Monday, but said it was not recommending a strike as some were calling for on social media.
This post has been updated.
