More legislative news.

Governor Andy Beshear says efforts to solve Kentucky's teacher shortage problem won't work unless teachers get raises.

The governor discussed State Representative James Tipton's teacher shortage bill today, and the governor also talked about bills in the House and Senate dealing with transgender students.

Backers of those bills say they would give parents the information and transparency they need.

The bill's critics say, though, they will hurt LGBTQ plus students.

My faith teaches me that every child is a child of God, and whether it is the position of the AMA or the statistics from the Trevor Project, they're pretty clear that these bills will cause an increase in suicide amongst our youth.

I can't be for anything that's going to result in dead Kentucky children, and I wish others would look at it that way.

On the teacher shortage.

I appreciate that Representative Tipton is trying, but it's not going to work unless we raise teacher pay.

This is a competition for talent.

School districts across the country set up at our educational institutions, pitching new teachers, or soon to be new teachers.

And guess what?

In our boots, we have to say we are 44th in teacher pay, far behind.

So many other school districts that are their legislators gave themselves an 8% pay raise last session, but only provided enough funding and education for on average to give teachers a 3% pay raise.

How about we make it even past that 5% raise we've asked?

Because I think our teachers are just as valuable as our legislators, and I believe our communities agree.

The governor also announced more security is headed to Kentucky's juvenile justice centers.

He says 59 people have graduated from the state's six week training academy and have been assigned to jobs in centers throughout the state.

Another 22 will graduate March 17th for a total of 81 new security workers.

This comes after violence at some centers in recent months.