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Show In Our Opinion Pay teachers for full value There is nothing so important, most parents will agree, than I our children. We want the best for them. They are the leaders of tomorrow, inheritors of the world we shape with our actions today. Yet purse strings snapping shut are almost audible when the education of these same children becomes an issue. Witness the current Utah Legislature as it struggles to fund the state's school system. The disparity in salaries our lawmakers pay Utah teachers are a stark example of the austere conditions imposed on some of the most important people our children spend their time away from home with. According to Utah Education Association statistics the state ranks 46th in the U.S. when average teacher salaries are compiled. com-piled. Utah's average salary for teachers is $23,686, compared with $31,166 nationally. With career ladder funding included, the Utah average rises to $25,531 and the state's ranking dips to 39th. I Teacher salaries in Utah are lower than that paid educators I in bordering states, a UEA spokesman reports. Salaries are I higher in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. I Now, Lily Eskelsen, president of the UEA, is warning that a J Republican caucus agreement is "numbingly stupid" and a I I slap in the face of teachers. She says the "$15 million shell I game" lawmakers are playing with Utah's education system 1 I could in fact keep some school districts from opening doors I I next September. 1 I The Republican plan would give a 5 percent pay increase for public employees, including school teachers, and in a unique I two-tier system, target $ 14 million for educational programs as I part of a contingency budget. I Eskelsen says that means the teachers won't know until September, when actual revenues come in, if the money will actually be available. In Eskelsen 's words: "I see this appropriations bill as an insult in-sult to teachers, an insult to how hard we've worked this year." The UEA president goes on to warn that a "major con-I con-I cern" right now is whether there will be enough funding to open school in the fall. One problem with the proposed education budget centers on the wage package that calls for a 5 percent teacher salary and benefit package. That sounds pretty good, until you realize that ' I built into the legislation are provisions to subtract out 1.8 per-I per-I cent for use in funding shortfalls in the public employees I retirement plan. Eskelsen terms the budget plan, which the Republican majority in the Utah House and Senate announced Friday, as "so tentative it's like trying to nail Jell-o to a tree." Instead of spending money to increase the state subsidy for poorer school districts, the proposals recommend reducing the fund and putting it into the salary pot. These financial maneuverings take place while lawmakers hold back a $55 million nest egg as a rainy day fund, and that I says Eskelsen, is why the teachers are losing faith in the I revenue projection process embarked upon by the legislature. The bottom line, of course, is the quality of education the children of Utah will receive. Shouldn't they have the best teachers? Don't they deserve smaller classrooms and the best teaching materials? Lawmakers planning for tomorrow should realize two things: The children we are raising will be in charge soon. ' And, you get what you pay for. |