A plan to change how sickly balances are used in the state teacher pension system is rattling some educators.

The Lebanon Senate Republican behind the idea says his plan is being distorted, though.

Senator Jim Higdon.

Senate Bill four changes How Kentucky teachers and administrators are paid for sick time.

They've banked up when they retire.

It would cap compensation for unused sick days to ten days each school year.

As it stands now, all unused, time can be converted to boost their pension benefits.

Accumulated sick days are paid out at a 30% at retirement.

Senator Higdon says his plan is not a quote, use it or lose it situation.

Right now, whatever sick days they have now, whatever they've accumulated over their career, they're safe there.

Nothing happens to them.

Going forward, it limits them to ten sick days a year that they can count toward retirement and and in their in their three personal days and unused sick days that are not in the ten.

They can row those forward and get paid at the end just like they do on sick days that go into the retirement.

But it won't count toward their their high three.

Higdon says the amount of sick days allowed varies across the state, and he wants to create a uniform policy so that all teachers and administrators are treated the same.

The teachers pension system is almost 59% funded.

Over the last seven years since 2017.

We put in 10.6, $10.6 billion and in that time our assets have increased about 6 billion, but our unfunded liabilities have increased 10 billion.

We have about a $900 million a year negative cash flow.

So those are all very you know, they're concerning and my primary go I'm chairman of the people the Public Pension Oversight board is to make sure that every teacher this teaching today, that the money is there for them to get their check every month and not have to worry about it and to keep the teachers retirement system and, you know, to continue to try to get it to full funding.

Higdon says the cost savings of his plan is unknown.

What's also unknown is the amount of sick days the state has on hook for paying for right now.

Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reggie Thomas was among the Democrats and a few Republicans who voted against the bill.

What this Senate Bill four does is again produce another dagger against our public school teachers.

What we're going to see happen as president is a use it or lose it practice, then okay.

Because if they can't bank it now and they don't have much, then they're going to use it.

Which means that school districts, all 171 of them across the state are going to have to have substitutes teachers come in to replace these teachers who now using their sick time because they can't make it any longer.

We already facing a teacher shortage.

We hear that every day here in the legislature.

So now we're going to create an additional teacher crunch because of the passage of this bill, because teachers are not going to use their sick time.

Rather than losing.

The educators sick leave plan, pass the Senate.

Yesterday, 24 to 5, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it.

It's now in the possession of the House for consideration there.