The Kentucky primary is one week away, and the race is heating up for the candidates running for the ninth district of the state senate. The Democratic candidates in this race are Horace Johnson of Allen county and Steve Newberry and John Rogers of Glasgow. Among the primary issues of all three campaigns are the continuing education cuts in Kentucky. Each candidate proposes a different solution.

"I think the main reason we're seeing these cuts is the legislature has not sent a clear message of where education needs to be on our priority scale," says candidate Steve Newberry. "In addition to public safety, making sure our police and fire departments are funded, education is priority 1-A."

"We need to stop doing the projects like air conditioned horse show arenas in Lexington," candidate John Rogers says. "How many bridges does it take to cross the Ohio River? If we cut these things, we can put it into education, textbooks, teachers, and salaries."

"We need to think through what we're doing in regard to KERA and No Child Left Behind and some of these unfunded mandates, we need to do away with," says candidate Horace Johnson.

"We have to establish what the priorities are," Newberry explains. "You may have to have a few less services from the government when it comes to tourism and recreation, but if it brings money to the state, we'll keep on using it."

"I think the original intent of this governor and legislature, they were discussing funding that through casino gaming and I was opposed to that," adds Johnson. "I do not believe that education should be funded through gambling. I believe education is much too important to rely on a revenue stream based upon casino gambling or any other form of gambling."

"Teachers don't have textbooks in their classrooms, yet we continue, the legislature increases their budget," says Rogers. "It's just not right. We've gotta make a change and we've got to send that message to Frankfort."

While we've heard from the Democratic candidates, watch tomorrow night at six to hear from the three Republican candidates running for state senate district nine.