Is this a state school board member urging teacher unions and — heavens to Betsy! — a strike? Tim Beagley, at Educating Utah:
In very real terms, I’m afraid that the reason the teaching profession has fallen so far is that teachers have allowed it to happen. In the face of ridiculously low wages and poor academic environments, teachers keep showing up and going through the motions of their job. That must change if the system is going to improve. We need (and I believe would ALL be well served) for teachers to be more forceful with their demands for respect and dignity. The standards that our accountability plans are based upon should be high and the expectations teachers have of us need to be just as high and stringent. There was a time when the teacher was known to be one of the most respected and strongest members of society. We need to get back to that. Respect and dignity are likely products of strength.
His post reminds one of Bill Bennett’s old “$50,000 solution” — hire a good principal, which in 1986 and 1987, would run about $50,000 (it’s higher now).
When will legislators and school boards really get the message that to make our schools competitive, we have to hire people who can make them compete, which means we need to compete against other hiring authorities to get the best?
Beagley is a member of the Utah State Board of Education, and a biology professor at Salt Lake Community College.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Because I have taught for so long in the same district, I make a very good salary. Our superintendent just received a 35 percent pay raise and a few bonuses, and he now makes over $300k. Not bad for a job in education.
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If all teachers were paid $100,000, there would be some serious competition. Teaching would be a desirable profession for those tempted by the cash.
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Aunt Betsy (from http://www.youthinkleft.com/news/) is a teacher and she’s 100% with you even though you said “heavens to Betsy”!
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