THUMB AWARD TEACHER PAY HIKE?

Thumbs Up to Gov. Mark White for leading the battle for increases in teacher pay. Our only quarrel with him is his reluctance to back House Bill 716, which provides for a third of the funds to go for merit pay, an innovation that’s desperately needed in our schools. Thumbs Up to Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Linus Wright for backing a plan to hire retired professionals to help out the DISD’s understaffed math and science departments. This will help ensure that no students in the district be denied the opportunity to take advanced math or science courses because of a shortage of teachers. Thumbs Down to Dallas Federation of Teachers President Maureen Peters for protesting the hiring of uncertified part-time teachers. She says that hiring teachers without certification would be “demoralizing” for other teachers. Currently employed teachers would be offered first crack at the extra work (for extra pay); the only jobs that would be offered to part-time teachers would be those that employed teachers would not fill. Perhaps aspiring teachers should spend less time trying to become certified and more time learning the subject they teach.