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Higher salaries best reward for good teachers

Increasing teacher pay in Hernando County is a very important issue and needs to be addressed immediately.

As stated in the St. Petersburg Times , Hernando County ranks 60th in teacher pay out of 67 counties in Florida. Although this fact alone should be enough to re-examine teacher salaries, the situation gets more embarrassing.

Locally, we offer the lowest wages of the surrounding counties, while housing, gasoline and other expenses continue to skyrocket. In the last year alone the cost of purchasing a home has increased dramatically.

If we want to attract and retain the most qualified teachers in Hernando County, they must be adequately compensated. The Hernando County School Board is one of the largest employers in the area; therefore, the employees of the board are a huge segment of our community and contribute to the economic growth of our county. I urge you to compensate these valuable community members and make their salaries a "true" priority.

Despite compensation issues, teachers in this county have produced FCAT scores that rank seventh in the state. Hernando County has a dedicated, caring, and qualified teaching staff that continues to strive for excellence. I ask, then, why do we continue to lag behind surrounding counties while our teachers continue to make improvements?

Please compensate our teachers appropriately so they won't find employment elsewhere.

Central time would benefit Florida

Re: Now might be the time for Central Standard, Oct. 2 Times:

I wholeheartedly agree with Howard Troxler's article about Hernando County Commissioner Jeff Stabins' idea to have Florida in the Central Standard Time zone.

The extended daylight savings time starting in 2007 is really going to mean that we are sending our children to school in the dark, which a lot of parents are not going to like.

While Florida may be an Eastern state geographically, technically Florida is a Midwestern state, considering that Pensacola is beneath Chicago. For decades, our state has been divided into two time zones. Having Florida in one time zone would make things a lot better for all.

However, making the switch to Central Time would require some getting used to. I would not mind watching ER at 9 p.m. Central Time on Thursdays and the local late news at 10 p.m. Besides, for those who are really used to watching the late news at 11 p.m., there's always Bay News 9.

[Last modified October 11, 2005, 01:57:17]