Bail-Outs, Pork Barrel, and Underpaid Educators

I agree with your statement 100%,

"teachers don't earn the kind of salaries they deserve to begin with. And for those who genuinely want to improve or excel, they should be duly compensated for taking the time, energy, and initiative to do so. Why would we want to encourage teachers to simply remain at the status quo and penalize those who want to become better equipped to teach our children?"

Rich - I have advocated for years that folks write their elected officials - repeatedly if necessary.  No matter who it is, there is always a matter that will cause us to pause and ask, " is that right?"  If you have that question in your mind ... put it to paper and make your elected officials aware of your feelings.  They work for YOU - not the other way around.  And they cannot be expected to know how to vote on issues if you don't tell them what's on your mind.

As for me ... My elected officials know me by name, know where I live and usually try to dodge me when I see them in public.  I refuse to let them off the hook when they are voting on things that I don't agree with.

Hi Rich, Congratulations on your effort and you are being a proactive citizen and perhaps this will not be the last time you do so. By and large the letters do help to keep these somewhat isolated legislator's apprised of how consumer in their district feel about an issue. I felt the passion and integrity that went into the letter. I do caution you not to take to serious the response, they sign em but don't usually write em. Their staff do these and express their opinions. But the staff also reflect these opinions when the bills need specific instances of consumers  feedback. Still the letters are important and your opinion can weigh heavily especially because it was so well written.

congrats on letting some hear your voice!

Good luck Rich - I hope enough people send in their thoughts and that in the end, the teachers are not the ones who take the hit.

Cheers

Sheldon

Rich, thanks for including the post link to SoundBiteBlog. Recently in Sequim, we had an election in which the write-in candidate won over the long-time incumbent. People were shocked. In fact, one such shocked person's letter to the editor said something to the effect that "If I had known there was a write-in candidate, I would have called all (incumbent's friends) and told them to go vote." I was incensed at that. As you say, the right to vote should be taken very seriously. When we fail to make our voices heard, we are actually voting in absentia for whatever might happen in the legislative/voting world. I will add my voice to this cause.