TOP STORIES LAST WEEK

Chuck Shaw, vice chairman, Palm Beach County School Board

The obvious story is presidential impeachment. The real story is the underlying division running rampant throughout our Country. Every issue immediately has people taking sides. I remember in school learning that impeachment was a big deal; reserved for the most serious offenses. Today it seems to be the political game that can be played. It disregards due process, fairness, the impact on totally innocent witnesses and focuses more on how much air time can be had by the parties on all sides. How many recent stories have condemned those involved before the basic facts have been collected? Our leaders are expected to lead everyone but seem to have forgotten or ignored that part.

Thomas Wenski, archbishop, Archdiocese of Miami

Kudos to NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s support of Houston Rocket’s manager Daryl Morey’s right to free speech after his tweet supporting democracy protesters in Hong Kong. NBA is caught between a rock and a hard place — standing to lose billions unless it appeases China’s communist government.

But the stakes for the citizens of Hong Kong are even higher. Will China end the protests by agreeing to some degree of democratic reforms or by a Tiananmen-style crackdown? Lenin once said: capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them. Western business interests appeasing China doesn’t bode well.

George Moraitis, chairman, Broward Republican Executive Committee

Governor Ron DeSantis is urging Florida lawmakers to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers to $47,500. This is significant because according to data from the National Education Association, the average starting salary for Florida teachers is currently $37,636. This puts Florida near the bottom in the nation for average teacher pay. Governor DeSantis’ proposal would lead to more than 100,000 teachers statewide getting a pay increase and would apply to both new hires and teachers who are already working at rates below this new threshold. Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran calls the proposal a “game-changer.”

Frank Ortis, mayor, Pembroke Pines

I’m torn on the details surrounding whether college student-athletes in Florida should be able to cash in on their names and images. Varying bills involving student-athlete compensation are now being filed in several states after California made the first move. A second Florida House bill has now been filed which asks that college and university athletes be compensated through endorsement deals. The NCAA warns this could provide an unfair recruiting advantage. Others feel the current rules are antiquated. This needs to be looked at closely from every angle. Amateur versus professional status, and fairness versus exploitation will be debated.

Tim Lonergan, commissioner, Oakland Park

The Supreme Court of the United States has accepted a case where the Justices will determine if the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBT people from employment discrimination. One provision of the Civil Rights Act, known as Title 7, bars job discrimination based on sex. Some lower courts have interpreted that language to include discrimination against LGBT people as a subset of sex discrimination. A decision is expected by early summer 2020. In this wonderfully diverse melting pot known as the United States of America, any prejudice and discrimination are unacceptable and anti-American!

Mitchell Berger, founder and co-chair, Berger Singerman

As citizens of the United States, we should be mortified that we have abandoned the Kurds. The Kurds lost 10,000 fighting Isis. We lost 10. the Kurds were our most reliable ally against Saddam Hussein, and Iran , Why did this happen?

Anna Fusco, president, Broward Teachers Union

In the hope of attracting and retaining qualified teachers, the governor proposed an impressive state-wide starting salary. His proposal, if adopted by the legislature, will indeed attract teachers to the sunshine state, but will discourage them from choosing Broward and other areas with higher costs of living. His proposal omits increases for veteran teachers, offering them no motivation to stay. Retention? He also left out another important group of educators, our support professionals, who have the toughest jobs and are paid the least. Good start governor, but let’s rework this proposal and truly make Florida a permanent destination for educators.

Heather Brinkworth, Chair, Broward School Board

This week Gov. DeSantis announced his proposal to increase starting teacher salary in the state to $47,500. The Governor’s proposal is just that, a proposal. Whether you agree or not with the premise, one thing I think we can all agree on is hopefully it brings about longoverdue action in our legislature to address where Florida ranks in terms of teacher compensation. Broward County’s residents are some of the most cost-burdened in the nation, and if we don’t tackle the issue of higher wages for educators, we will find it increasingly more difficult to both attract and retain highly qualified teachers.