Letter Of The Day

Republican lawmakers trotted out their education agenda for the new session with great fanfare. At the center of their plan was another call for increased "accountability." Apparently this accountability is to apply only to Iowa's overworked and underpaid teachers.

In 2001 the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a Teacher Quality pay plan that promised increased salaries for teachers in exchange for a new rigorous system of licensure and teaching standards. While teachers have uniformly met these new, time-consuming requirements, our pay has actually gone down to 41in the nation - an all-time low. Why? Because the Legislature broke its pledge to teachers to the tune of a $120 million shortfall in funding.

Republican legislators demand accountability from public schoolteachers but refuse to be accountable themselves. They refuse to face the reality that Iowa teachers are leaving the state and the profession in droves (5,000 did not purchase or renew their licenses last year according to the Iowa Department of Education).

Republican Rod Roberts best exemplified the credibility gap on the floor of the Iowa House in when he said: "If you don't have something that is reasonably adequate in compensating people, it is a deterrent to recruiting folks." (April 28, 2005.) In typical Republican fashion, he was advocating not for an increase in teacher pay but for a raise in his own salary. Not surprisingly, he got it.

- Dave O'Connor, Des Moines.

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