LETTER: Teacher salary issue a matter of debate

Sheila Morse’s letter Saturday continued the expected and misguided annual plea that if only we increased teacher salaries, our educational system would suddenly rise from its current near-worst-in the-nation status. Ms. Morse and other letter writers cite the nighttime research and preparation teachers must do for the next day, as if they have never heard of the concept of “homework.”

Members of the Clark County School District Board of Trustees defined the threshold for Las Vegas teaching competence when they decided you don’t even need a degree to fulfill that role. Not that it really matters. How much worse can it get? The extent to which they support the superintendent appears to end with paying his lawyer fees.

What would that salary have to be for teachers to agree to pay for performance? Ms. Morse uses the “sports personnel” analogy. But players, coaches and managers get fired for not doing their jobs. In Las Vegas, teachers picket “for the students,” gain concessions and then return to the same losing team.

Let’s break up the team (the district), fire the owners (incompetent trustees) and hire some free agents who are not in lockstep with the American Federation of Teachers. Those would be moves “for the students.”