LETTERS: TEACHERS: ACT NOW ON MINIMUM PAY

To the editor:

This is an invitation to your readers to call, fax, e-mail or send a letter to your legislators in Jefferson City and let them know you would like to see Senate Bill 944 become law. This is the second proposal for a bill to set a minimum salary for teachers. It is still alive and well.

What's needed right now is simply our support. If we stand by and say nothing, that is exactly what will happen to this bill: absolutely nothing.

Teachers, please let your representative and senator know you do indeed wish to be guaranteed a better wage for your work. We teachers are often accused of complaining to anyone who will listen that our compensation is far from equal to the demands and requirements of the positions we hold. Now we have the chance to tell someone who can do something about our inadequate salaries.

Missouri ranks 35th in the nation when it comes to what educators are paid for teaching. If local school districts cannot afford to pay us any more than they are, then a subsidy from the state is the answer.

There is some opposition to this bill. For example, it's my understanding that the Missouri-National Education Association is against it. That group's answer to low salaries is collective bargaining. If you're a teacher who is against collective bargaining but would like to make enough money to make ends meet, the passage of this bill should interest you.

No one is going to call and ask if we'd like to be paid a little more. No one is going to send us a letter that says, "Good news! We've got extra money lying around the Capitol. Would you like some?"

But better pay for teachers is within our grasp if we act. Progress in the field of education never comes without someone -- usually many, many people -- working very hard to make it so. Please consider joining me and other Missouri State Teachers Association/Community Teachers Association leaders who are working toward passage of this bill.

JANE M. PAINTON

President

Community Teachers Association

Nell Holcomb School District

Cape Girardeau