Four of the 12 Republicans running for governor took part in a Paducah Chamber of Commerce forum this afternoon.

Greeley Kelly Craft was invited but declined.

Most of the questions focused on business and economic issues.

But the four also talked about education.

Another area was tragic.

Kentucky, I think, leads America in kids that are being raised with an incarcerated parent.

It's no wonder we have so many systemic problems in the state.

Breakdown of the family.

We no longer fear God.

Cost of education.

I think we've got to do a couple of things.

I'm an advocate for school choice.

I think competition can be really healthy for us.

But I want to invest more earlier.

We're seeing a lot of investment later in our children, but the investment in children ages 3 to 5 produces more fruit.

Again, that would never happen in two terms with any of us as governor.

But what we're doing isn't working on education.

That's what my background's in.

I think we need to make sure we have better outcomes, and that includes letting parents have a say So what their kids are exposed to in the classroom.

Number two, empowering teachers.

We're trying to teach and raise people's kids at the same time.

I would support discipline reform in the classroom as well.

Pushing vocational training programs are a massive supporter of our large homeschool community across Kentucky as well.

When it comes to corrections, your county officials tell me about this all the time.

A lot of counties can not sustain their local jails.

We also need to empower our teachers that we need to start with higher starting salaries for teachers.

We need to remove some of the bureaucracy that they have to confront.

And so I'm going to be a governor that works with our General Assembly to make sure that that happens.

On the incarceration side, we have to be a compassionate community of counties here in Kentucky and make sure that there are opportunities for folks to get work training that allows them to break the cycles that put them in jail in the first place.

Our traditional public schools will always be the strong spear, and they should always be the strong spear.

But we need to make sure that we have a determination for our children.

My mom taught in Christian education for 20 plus years, was not a child that came out of her class or kindergarten class that not only knew how to read, but read well.

We need that same determination for every one of our children so that they can help accomplish to the top level, not just some arbitrary flaw.