After special session, are Kentucky teachers still a political force?

Staples of Kentucky's springtime protests — sickout-induced school closures, bottleneck traffic into Frankfort and throngs of noisily protesting teachers on the Capitol steps — were noticeably absent during this week's dramatic 24-hour special session over pension reform. 

The tame turnout on Tuesday came little over a month after an underwhelming showing by teacher candidates in November's elections and has some now questioning whether Kentucky teachers are still politically relevant.

Despite months of pledging to "Remember in November," educators on the ballot for the statehouse this fall came up far short, winning just 14 of 51 races. Though teachers scored a few big victories, the losses test their overall morale.

"Teachers are going to be engaged and they're going to have a voice," said Scott Lasley, political science professor at Western Kentucky University. "But I don't think it’s a make-or-break voice."

More from Frankfort:Pension special session called off after little more than a day

Recent headlines:Kentucky GOP sifting through teachers' emails for political misuse

Even teachers themselves have questioned the power of their movement.

"The day after the midterms, I thought #120Strong was political dead weight," said Hopkins County teacher Garris Stroud, referring to the 40,000-member group of educators that assembled on social media during the spring protests. 

But Tuesday's turn of events, which saw a bipartisan rebuke of Gov. Matt Bevin's push for last-minute pension reform, gave Stroud hope.

"Now, I'm not so sure," he said. Educators "couldn't pull out wins for the teacher candidates, but they stopped pension reform in its tracks."

Nema Brewer, a Fayette County Public Schools employee and founder of the teacher group KY 120 United, said educators are tired of having their political legitimacy questioned.

"We are here. We aren’t idiots. And we aren’t going away," she said.

A statewide work stoppage is "always the final resort," Brewer said, adding that teachers made the decision to stay in school Tuesday out of respect for "our communities and our families and kids."

Instead of storming the halls of the Capitol, teachers showed up to work.

More:Kentucky's special session on pensions is over. Who are the winners and losers?

In Madison County, high school teacher Evan Barker proctored and graded end-of-semester exams. In Breckinridge County 150 miles away, Paul Rotramel led his students in a dress rehearsal for a Tuesday evening holiday performance.

Jeremy Camron, a teacher with Daviess County Public Schools, put it simply: "I took care of kids."

Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said he wasn't surprised that teachers didn't launch a massive protest given the timing of the special session. Bevin called lawmakers into the Capitol on Monday night with just four hours' notice.

"A slow response is natural given that teachers are in the end of the semester, when the ramifications for them and their students would be much worse than the sickouts last time," Voss said. "That's not necessarily a sign that they're permanently quiet."

But Voss also questioned whether proposed pension reforms — which mostly affect benefits for future teachers and include limited cuts for those currently in the workforce — will anger educators enough to keep them engaged at the grassroots level.

"These sort of policies really pump up the unions and the professional activists," Voss said. "But since the policies aren't impacting the current batch of teachers very much, most of them wont be that politicized."

Opinion column:Inept, arrogant and weak: Bevin's special session crashes

Dewey Clayton, University of Louisville political science professor, agreed that the surprise session made it difficult for teachers to mobilize. But Tuesday's small turnout in Frankfort and November's disappointing election results aren't necessarily indications that educators' passion has waned, he said.

"They probably didn't do as well as they had wanted to, but that doesn't mean they've not begun to realize some of the power that they actually do have," Clayton said. "... It takes time to organize a critical mass."

As the special session rolled into Tuesday, teachers monitored the situation from afar, calling their legislators and getting updates from the retired teachers who gathered by the handful in the House and Senate balconies.

By 8 p.m. Tuesday, lawmakers gaveled out of the special session, putting off any changes to the pension system. Teachers celebrated on social media — but the victory lap was brief. Within hours of "sine die," teachers had already set their eyes on the next hurdle: the 2019 legislative session, which begins Jan. 8.  

There will be plenty of issues, including charter school funding, to stoke teachers' ire. And if they continue to mobilize — whether it's in public view or behind the scenes — they'll eventually reap the benefits, Clayton said.

"There’s an old saying in politics, 'The squeaky wheel gets the grease,' " he said. "And though it's simplistic, there’s a lot of truth to that."

Correction: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Garris Stroud's name.

Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mandym.