Virginia Teachers Union Pushes for Increased Pay
The Martinsville Bulletin reports the teachers’ union, the Virginia Education Association (VEA) “is conducting a media campaign this month to shore up support for its teacher-pay initiative, which seeks to raise teacher pay in school divisions across the commonwealth to at least the national average, which was $47,808 for the 2005-2006 school year. The state average was $45,347 in 2005-06.”
The motive of the VEA initiative is to get voters to get the message to their state legislators in Richmond. According to the newspaper, “But while the VEA's teacher pay initiative may hang on what delegates and state senators do in Richmond, before they will vote in favor of fully funding public education, they must first hear that message at home, said VEA President Princess Moss." For the record, Arlington’s Senator Mary Margaret Whipple patroned SB324 in the 2006 regular session. The bill, as introduced, would have set a goal of raising Virginia teacher pay to the national average. Fortunately, the Education Committee of the House of Delegates managed to substitute much of that language.
How about letting the market determine pay levels rather than politics?