I feel that our future rests in the hands of educators who truly love the challenges of teaching. I often think back to my high school years. There were several instructors at Republic who really cared about shaping the futures of the students. Some of them took the time to discover the hidden talents of the students and then encouraged those skills along. Many of those teachers have retired now. But what I learned from them still play's an important part of my daily life. Now that I am a member of the Missouri House of Representatives I have been exposed to the side of educating young people the public doesn't get to see.

Statewide our teachers are under paid and forced to work in crowded classrooms. They have little or no ability to discipline or control those students who lack the personal drive to achieve. Administrations have to deal with the "growing pains" of district demographics. While funding seems to be harder to secure.

It's important we change some of this. I want to insure that we fully fund the new foundation formula. I supported the classroom trust fund, and supported the measures that sent the gambling revenue directly to the school coffers. I think it is important that Missouri's teachers earn at least the national average on the starting pay level with increases for achievements earned. I think each local school board should have control over the programs implemented and use of funding.

I want to make teaching an appealing career option. The better we take care of our educators and administrators, the better the environment for learning will be in our schools.

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Comments welcome!


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