Better teacher pay not a cure-all
WE have noted that the debate over teacher pay has been oversimplified by advocates of raises. The latest evidence comes from Hawaii.
In 2016, Hawaii’s average teacher pay was $57,431, ranking 16th highest in the nation. Oklahoma’s average teacher salary was $45,276 that year, ranking 48th. But The Associated Press reports the number of teachers resigning and leaving Hawaii has almost doubled since 2010. Hawaii news accounts are filled with stories of a teacher shortage.
Why? Because Hawaii’s teacher pay is the lowest in the country after accounting for cost-of-living differences. In contrast, Oklahoma’s 2016 teacher pay average ranked 31st, adjusted for cost of living, according to The 1889 Institute. The average $6,100-per-teacher raise given this year boosted Oklahoma’s cost-of-living adjusted teacher pay to 11th highest in the nation.
It was argued that Oklahoma teachers were leaving in droves for teaching jobs in surrounding states. Given Oklahoma’s new pay ranking, will droves of teachers now start applying for Oklahoma jobs? Some school officials are already downplaying that possibility.
“Even if a huge pay increase is approved for teachers, it will probably take the colleges four to seven years to graduate the number of teachers needed,” Edmond Superintendent Bret Towne said recently.
We supported raising teacher pay, but noted working conditions also played a significant role in shortages. The early results are rebutting the claims of activists who portrayed pay raises as an education cure-all, and highlight the continuing need to pass meaningful reforms to improve Oklahoma’s school system.
Exchange plans
When it was created, the federal insurance exchange spawned by the Affordable Care Act included four insurers that sold policies in Oklahoma. Before long, however, that number began to dwindle. Due in part to Obamacare’s mandates and the demographics of those gaining coverage via the ACA’s tax credits, the exchange policies were money losers for most insurers. Since 2017, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma has been the lone provider of exchange plans. But that’s about to change. Minnesota-based Medica, a nonprofit insurance company, said this week that it will sell exchange plans in Oklahoma for 2019. Medica plans to sell silver and gold plans in every county, and bronze plans in some locations. State Insurance Commissioner John Doak noted, “Having two insurers creates product choices and alternatives that are essential to our marketplace.” He’s right. This development should be a win for consumers.
If at first …
In politics, as in life, perseverance pays off. In 2014, Toni Hasenbeck ran for Oklahoma House District 65 as a Democrat, narrowly losing to Republican Scooter Park. In 2016, Hasenbeck ran as a Republican for Senate District 31 and narrowly lost a runoff primary. This year, she ran again as a Republican in House District 65 and ousted Park in the primary. In 2014, Joe Howell ran as a Republican for Senate District 40, but placed fifth in a six-man race. This year, Howell ran for the same seat again and ousted GOP incumbent Sen. Ervin Yen. In 2010, Ken Luttrell, then a Democrat, lost a reelection race in House District 37 to Republican Steve Vaughan. This year, Luttrell ran as a Republican for the same seat and ousted Vaughan. If these repeat candidates don’t win November’s general election, no one can say it was due to lack of effort.
Anti-vax victory
Oklahomans who oppose stronger childhood vaccination laws had to be happy to see state Sen. Ervin Yen lose his Republican primary. Rightly concerned about falling vaccination rates, Yen, of Oklahoma City, has spent much of his four years in office trying to bolster Oklahoma’s laws by restricting the exemptions granted for vaccination requirements. For this he’s been excoriated. One mailer last year compared Yen to Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and other tyrants. The winner in Tuesday’s primary was Joe Howell, who noted on his Facebook page that parents should decide how to medicate and educate their children. “That is not the duty of government, to step in and say, ‘This is how you’re going to run your personal life,’” he said. That’s music to the anti-vaxxers’ ears, no doubt.
Renaming nonsense
For years, the Association of Library Service to Children, which is part of the American Library Association, has presented a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to an author or illustrator whose books have made, “over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.” The award is named after the author of the “Little House on the Prairie” books. But this year the association decided to strip Wilder’s name from the award. Why? Because her work “includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes.” Imagine that: Some views of a woman born in 1867 may be different from those of people a century and a half later. Of course, by that standard, virtually all classic literature could be considered offensive. Great literature can have elements that are flawed in modern eyes, yet still be great literature worthy of respect. The association’s failure to understand this reflects poorly on its membership.
Not a pretty picture
In South Carolina on Monday, fans of President Trump heckled CNN reporter Jim Acosta, hollering at him to “go home” and calling him “Fake News Jim.” Video clips show an older woman — perhaps someone’s grandmother — waving a sign and hollering at Acosta that he doesn’t respect the United States. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., isn’t backing away from her remarks last weekend encouraging Americans to “absolutely harass” White House officials when they’re out in public and off the clock. “These members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him (Trump), they’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant,” Waters told MSNBC. “They’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store. The people are going to turn on them.” These are two examples of the state of discourse in America today. Neither side is covering itself in glory.
Fake news response
Legislation filed by a California state senator would have that state’s attorney general create an advisory committee to study how false information is spread online and come up with a plan for any Californiabased website to address the problem. Among other things, the group would develop criteria for identifying “fake news.” Gosh, how could this go wrong? One doesn’t have to be overly cynical to suspect the end result will be the suppression of news that casts California politicians in a negative light. While bogus claims abound on the internet, politicians tend to equate stories they don’t like with “fake” stories. And too many media “fact checkers” have been caught describing something as “false” based on a difference of opinion, not on any factual error. To the degree fake news is a real problem, the way to fight it is with the truth, not by suppressing free speech.