Teachers' Salaries...

[Don Kaag <dkaag@turbonet.com>]

Visionaries:

When I read the MPDN article "School Boss:  Worst May Not Be Over" in
Friday's paper, I was frustrated in not being able to find the end.  So
I read Saturday's edition, and there it was, reprinted in its entirety.

Imagine my surprise when the complete article, which purports to dissect
in detail the "what-ifs" of State and District school funding, failed to
mention anything about staff and teachers' salaries.  Given that the
District maintains salaries are 85% of their yearly expenses, that is a
peculiar omission.  Particulary as this time of the year, as in most
years, the Board and the Moscow Education Association are deep into
negotiations over next year's contract.  We have cut teachers and
programs.  We have cut budgets.  Now we must talk about compensation.

Last year, in an increasingly tense and acrimonious series of summer
negotiations meetings with Board representatives and their "hired gun"
attorney from Coeur d' Alene, MEA representatives were subjected to
insults, tirades and foul language.  A settlement on a 2.5% salary
increase was finally reached just days before school started. The paltry
increase did not even recoup yearly cost of living increases. The
contract left a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of most district
faculty, many of whom voted not to accept it, and have been angry ever
since---especially when they found out after the fact that the Board had
given school administrators a 22% increase on a two year contract.

I have been following the continuing controversy on public versus
private schooling in these pages and on Vision 2020.  Public school
teachers don't contribute much to these discussions.  We are busy
educating kids, which for most of us is an all-consuming task.  Most of
us are highly-educated, experienced and dedicated educational
professionals, and we work hard at what we do.  Public school teachers
are members of this community.  We own homes, pay taxes, send our kids
to school, and mow our lawns just like everyone else.  Like everyone
else, too, our power bills have gone up, our gas and grocery bills have
increased, and our kids grow up and go to college.  We deserve a living
wage commensurate with our years of experience and our educational
level, and I for one am not ashamed to ask for a salary increase that is
at least ahead of the yearly inflation in the cost of living.

If the Board and the Daily News are not taking that into account, then
perhaps they should.

Don Kaag