Learning: Inside Scoop
Who Is 'Highly Qualified'?

Federal law adds new job qualifications for teachers and Title I paraprofessionals.

The "No Child Left Behind Act"--the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act--for the first time defines "highly qualified teacher." More important, it says every class will have one by 2006. The law also holds new requirements for paraprofessionals in Title I programs.

What is a 'highly qualified' teacher under the new law?
Essentially, the law defines a "highly qualified" teacher as one who is fully certified or licensed under state law and competent in the subjects he or she is teaching. There are several ways to prove competence.

What does the law say about certification?
To be "highly qualified," a teacher must have full state certification (which can be through alternative certification routes) or have passed the state teacher license exam and hold a valid license to teach. There is an exception for charter school teachers: They only have to be certified if their state's charter school law says they do.

Anyone for whom the state has waived certification requirements on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis is not rated "highly qualified."

What are the rules for new teachers with respect to academic competence?
New elementary teachers must have a bachelor's degree and also must pass a state test to demonstrate their knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary curriculum.

That test can be the state certification or license test, if that test assesses such subject matter knowledge.

New middle and high school teachers must have a bachelor's degree. They can prove competence in their subject area either by passing a state subject matter test, which can be the state's license exam, or by having an academic major, a graduate degree, an advanced certificate, or coursework equivalent to an academic major in the subject area. This new requirement applies to "core academic subjects," which include English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign language, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.

How can teachers who are already working demonstrate their academic competence?
All of the options for new teachers are also available to those already on the job. In addition, the law allows states to create for each subject area a non-test evaluation of academic competence that, among other things, provides objective information about the teacher's content knowledge, is applied uniformly throughout the state, "takes into consideration, but [is not] based primarily on, the time the teacher has been teaching in the academic subject," and is available to the public on request.

National Board Certification in the subject is another way to demonstrate competence.

How soon must all teachers be 'highly qualified' for all the classes they teach?
The law says that starting in the 2002-03 school year, new teachers hired for Title I must meet the requirement. Other teachers have until the end of the 2005-06 school year. States must submit plans next year to show how they will reach the goal of a "highly qualified" teacher in every class.

What are the requirements for Title I funded paraprofessionals?
Starting immediately, paraprofessionals hired for programs supported by Title I must prove competence in one of two ways: Have two years of postsecondary education or have a high school diploma and demonstrate, in a "formal state or local academic assessment," the skills necessary to assist in classroom instruction for reading, writing, and mathematics.

Paraprofessionals already working in programs supported by Title I must meet these requirements by 2006.

What does the law say about duties assigned to paraprofessionals in Title I supported programs?
The new law prohibits assigning paraprofessionals in Title I supported programs to provide instruction to students except under the direct supervision of a teacher, or in one-to-one tutoring at a time when the student would not otherwise be taught by a teacher.

It is now against the law to use a Title I funded paraprofessional instead of a substitute teacher, for example.

Is there any change in required qualifications for other support professionals?
No.

Are there resources to help educators meet the requirements?
School districts must increase the percentage of teachers getting high-quality professional development each year until they reach the goal of 100 percent highly qualified teachers. Federal funds available for professional development have been increased.

Districts are allowed, but not required, to use some of their federal money to train support professionals.

What happens now?
Many of the new law's provisions are general. Critical decisions will be made during implementation of the law at the national, state, and school district levels.

For example, what will the new teacher tests and non-test assessments contain? How will Title I supported paraprofessionals demonstrate their academic competency?

NEA and its state and local affiliates can play an important role in answering these questions.

What happens if a school district can't fill its positions with people who meet the guidelines?
States that do not meet their timetables for increasing the percentage of "highly qualified" teachers three years in a row and that have also failed to make adequate yearly progress in improving student achievement will not be allowed to hire new Title I paraprofessionals except to fill vacancies. Conceivably, the Department of Education could also withhold federal aid.

But neither of these sanctions will persuade more "highly qualified" people to apply.

One strategy that would work: Give educators smaller classes, more planning time, and higher pay. And start listening to their ideas for improving schools.

--Alain Jehlen

For more: Many crucial details will be worked out in the coming months. Call NEA's new ESEA hotline, 866/373-ESEA (3732) for the latest information.

News: Rights Watch
ESEA Extends Federal Reach in Schools

New legislation will affect every classroom and school employee in the country on issues from school prayer to parental rights to student discipline.

Signed by President Bush on January 8, the No Child Left Behind Act (also known as the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, ESEA) contains numerous provisions of special interest to NEA members.

Contained in this 1,080-page statute are new provisions that have the potential to extend federal control into the classroom in an unprecedented way.

While the full extent of the educational changes effected by the law may not be known until fully implemented, there's reason to be alert to some provisions.

• School Prayer. This fall, the Department of Education must publish a guidance defining "constitutionally protected school prayer." The guidance has to be approved by the Justice Department and updated every two years.

  By October 1 each year, every school district must certify in writing to its state education department that it does not "prevent" or "deny" "constitutionally protected prayer in public schools," as defined by the Education Department guidance.

  By November 1 each year, every state education department must send the Education Department the names of school districts that failed to file the certificate or that were accused of denying any person the right to engage in constitutionally protected school prayer.

  The Secretary of Education is given the power to investigate such charges and to enforce the law, presumably by cutting off federal funds.

• Parental Rights. The new statute gives parents the right to inspect "any instructional material" used in their children's classes, except tests or academic assessments.

  Parents also are guaranteed the right to review any student survey that asks about political or religious beliefs, mental problems, illegal or anti-social behavior, or sexual attitudes. And they can have their children "opt out" of any such survey and any non-emergency physical examination.

  School districts are required to adopt written policies spelling out these rights and to give parents notice each year about the policies and the dates of any surveys or physical examinations.

  Significantly, an amendment to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Community Act also grants parents the right to remove their children from any federally funded drug and violence prevention program, including such programs that deal with "sexual harassment and abuse" and "victimization associated with prejudice and intolerance."

• Student Discipline. One part of the new legislation, called the "Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001," purports to protect teachers from frivolous lawsuits filed by students and their parents in discipline cases.

  In fact, the statute is so narrowly drawn and rife with exceptions, that--in practical terms--it affords very little real legal protection.

  Specifically, the new law says that K-12 school employees (including education support professionals) can't be sued for hurting a student if the injury occurred while the employee was engaged in "efforts to control, discipline, expel, or suspend a student or maintain order or control in the classroom or school."

  Importantly, this protection is not available if the employee's actions don't fully comply with federal, state, or local laws or where the employee engaged in "willful or reckless misconduct," "gross negligence," or "flagrant indifference to the rights or safety" of the student.

  This means that a plaintiff's attorney can claim that the employee was "reckless'' or violated the student's constitutional or civil rights.

  More importantly, the law affords employees no protection in the much larger category of cases where students are injured outside of the disciplinary context.

  The statute would not apply, for example, where the student is hurt in a playground accident, during a chemistry lab experiment, or in shop class, and sues the teacher for negligent supervision.

  That's one good reason to maintain NEA membership. Members are covered for these kinds of lawsuits by NEA's Educators Employment Liability Insurance Program, which will pay up to $1 million in damages plus attorneys' fees.

  In an interesting footnote to the legislative history, Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky urged his colleagues to vote for the bill precisely because "the teachers unions" promote their liability insurance "as a key reason for joining their union," specifically citing literature from NEA affiliates in Texas, Missouri, and Maine.

• Boy Scouts. If a school allows outside groups to use its facilities for after school meetings, then it must allow the Boy Scouts to use its facilities for such meetings, even if the school objects to the Scouts' discriminatory membership policy.

  Another provision in the law, however, makes clear that schools still are free not to sponsor Scout troops if they so choose.

• Funding Options. Finally, the legislation permits--but does not require--state and local school districts to spend federal funds on a number of activities, including: student drug testing, criminal record checks of school employees (regardless of date hired), merit pay, tenure reform, and teacher testing.

--Michael D. Simpson
NEA Office of General Counsel

Supreme Court To Hear Student Drug Testing

Can schools require students to submit to random drug tests in order to participate in extracurricular activities? That's the important question the Supreme Court will answer later this year in Earls v. Board of Education of Tecumseh (Oklahoma) Public School District.

Students covered by the policy include those who want to belong to the Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, band, choir, the Academic Team, and cheerleading squad, as well as all sports teams.

Students are selected at random, called out of class, and directed to a bathroom where they must provide a urine sample. Teachers serve as test monitors, waiting outside the bathroom stall while the student urinates and then pouring the urine sample into two bottles. Together, the teacher and student seal the bottles for transport to the testing lab.

Last year, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the drug testing program violates students' rights under the Fourth Amendment to be free from warrantless searches. A school district, the court said, cannot impose a "random suspicionless drug testing policy" unless the district can show that there is "some identifiable drug abuse problem" among the students to be tested. In this Oklahoma school district, there was no evidence of any such drug problem, the court held.

While courts in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas also have struck down similar student drug testing policies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has upheld a comparable Indiana school district policy.

The High Court will hear oral arguments in the Earls case later this spring and likely announce its decision by the end of June.

--Michael D. Simpson
NEA Office of General Counsel

Resources
Why Aren't There More Minority Teachers? Schools

Book delves into critical shortage.

EXCERPT
"The impediments that students of color face when considering a career in teaching center on the attitudes that surround them, that affect them, and that humiliate them as future teachers. The image of teaching as a 'namby-pamby,' 'goody-two-shoes,' part-time, female job with 'summers off with the kids' still lingers even as the actual requirements for the profession demand highly competent, computer-skilled, multilingual, dynamic individuals who can handle kids from every walk of life."

The Color of Teaching
By June A. Gordon
128 pp. $27.99 paperback (Routledge/Falmer Press)
To order visit: www.routledgefalmer.com or call 800/634-7064.

There is a challenging issue facing America's public school: how to build a diverse teaching force. More than one third of our public school students are of color, yet only 13 percent of their teachers are.

Why aren't there more minority teachers in our classrooms? What is prohibiting students of color from entering the teaching profession?

In The Color of Teaching, June Gordon, a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, attempts to answer those questions by exploring the cultural and societal forces that discourage people of color from becoming teachers.

The book is based on Gordon's two-year research into the subject, interviewing more than 200 persons of color--mostly teachers and education professionals--to uncover the real reasons behind the minority shortage, in their own words and thoughts.

In their responses the African American, Asian American, Native American and Latino participants explore the many community forces in their cultures that deeply affect young adults' career decisions.

Nearly all mention the need for greater economic incentives to attract and retain teachers of color. But overwhelmingly, the participants say inadequate pay is not the pivotal reason students are resisting teaching as a career.

Students of color are not becoming teachers, says Gordon, is because of lack of encouragement from their own families, communities, and peers. Nearly all of the participants--except for the Asian Americans--also believe that students of color reject teaching because of their own negative experiences in school, which have been "fraught with hostility, misunderstanding and distrust."

Other recurring themes include the image and lack of respect for teachers, as well as pressure from parents who want their children to either stay close to home or pursue higher status professions.

Teachers themselves also admitted that they play a significant role in their students' perceptions of education and of teaching as a profession. Many speak of encouraging the few, often middle-class minority students who are clearly academically oriented, to go into high-paying, high-status careers.

Gordon asserts that discouragement of children to become teachers also comes from parents, counselors, peers, the media, and community. She writes: For many families, the cost of educating a child is great in terms of both human and material sacrifice. Institutions of higher education often require that students leave their family and community to attend college. For some, the cost appears too high; the move seems not only realistic, but perhaps suicidal."

Throughout the book, Gordon seeks to identify solutions for all aspects of the challenges facing students of color as they move through schooling and compete for careers. Of particular interest is a chapter dedicated to providing recommendations and insights from the interviewees themselves on how to address the situation affecting the future supply of minority teachers for American schools.

Some of the recommendations include improving the image of teachers, involving more parents, and providing early teaching-like experiences for students of color.

While it is a scholarly read, the raw emotion of the educators interviewed keep it interesting and insightful. The book should appeal to anyone who is interested in attracting more teachers of color into the profession--particularly policymakers, educators in teacher preparation institutions and minority teachers.

In her conclusion, Gordon asserts that teachers themselves must help create a fundamental change in attitudes toward education within communities of color.

"If we are to have sufficient teachers for America's schools," she writes, "students of color must have the guidance of their communities, and their teachers must show the way".

--By Dina S. Gómez

The NEA Professional Library Celebrates Women's History Month

Girls in the Middle: Working to Succeed in School
116pp. $12.95 NEA members
$14.95 nonmembers
#2503-2-00-FN

An engaging study of middle school girls--the critical choices they make in their school lives and the strategies they use to cope with adolescence. By linking girls' success to school reforms such as team teaching and cooperative learning, this report gives educators the insights they need to create new possibilities for their students.

Girls in the Middle Video
50 min. VHS #7708-3-00-FN
$19.95 NEA members
$24.95 nonmembers

An absorbing look at girls in three middle schools and the strategies they use to meet personal and academic challenges in their daily lives. Includes video guide with discussion questions.

To order, call 800/229-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books.

Books by NEA Members

Can A Rooster Drive A Tractor?
By Bonnie Richardson Murphy
Illustrated by Shelley P. Richardson
This book was written and illustrated to help small children learn an important life skill. It uses illustrations rooted in farm life that are rich with color, style, and humor to emphasize the importance of continuing to ask questions. The rhymes are lively and fun. Repetition and predictability will support pre-readers and beginning readers who will enjoy reading this book over and over $14.95. Published by the Alabama Farmers Federation, P.O. Box 11000, Montgomery, AL 36191.

Fireflies and Chiggers
By Don Rudolph
Rudolph has put together a collection of true stories based on 39 years of experience as a classroom teacher, coach, and administrator. Each chapter deals with a different problem that most teachers will encounter during their first three years of teaching and includes solutions. Proceeds from book sales will go to Tri-State Scholarships to assist students majoring in education who have serious financial problems. Cost for NEA members is $15, non-members $18, plus $2 s&h. Order from Tri-State Scholarships, P. O. Box 3572, Paducah, KY 42002.

Teaching Music at the Secondary Level: A Pedagogical and Curricular Guide
By Steven Porter and Joel Smales
If you aspire to teach music in a secondary school or are already doing so, this book will be an indispensable aid. It explores virtually every aspect of classroom and performance music with candor, wit, and expertise. From writing lesson plans to computerizing your library to dealing with student behavior, every page is chock full of the information that will help make your programs outstanding. $28.95. Order from Empire Publishing Services, P.O. Box 1344, Studio City, CA 91614-0344 or call 818/784-8918.

Counting on Your Fingers is Not Immoral
By John Mudore
Volume I of this series is designed for middle school mathematics, pre-algebra courses, and special education classes to help make math accessible to every student. Volume II, on integers and equations, is a fitting sequel to Volume I's fractions, decimals, and percents. Each lesson demands that students fully understand a concept and not just memorize information. $25 and $20, respectively, from Infinity Publishers, P.O. Box 333, Black Earth, WI 53515, or call 608/767-2381.

The Ultimate Sport Lead-Up Game Book
By Guy Bailey
If you're looking for some activities to use in teaching children beginning sports skills, this is the book for you. Author Guy Bailey has put together over 170 fun and easy to use games in 13 different sports. Each game is fully illustrated and described in a clear, user-friendly format. $23.95 each, plus $3.95 shipping per book. To order, call 800/431-1579 or write to Educators Press, 5333 NW Jacson St., Camas, WA 98607.

TV Tips

A Death in the Family
PBS, March 25, 9:00 p.m., ET, check local listings
CBS, February 24, 9:00 p.m., ET, check local listings
Adapted from James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic story, this ExxonMobil Masterpiece presentation explores the shattering effects of the early death of a father on a family. Set in 1915, the film recreates Agee's small, painstakingly drawn world of domestic happiness and shows how quickly it can be destroyed. This special presentation acknowledges the experience of grief and reality of death.

The True Story of Black Hawk Down
The History Channel, March 4, 9:00 p.m., ET, check local listings.
On October 3, 1993, 120 American Delta units and Ranger infantry were dropped into Mogadishu to abduct two lieutenants of Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Instead, two American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. The mission lasted 15 hours and resulted in 18 American deaths and 73 wounded and hundreds of Somalians dead. Based on actual events and narrated by Mark Bowden, author of the nonfiction best-selling novel by the same name, this presentation offers a comprehensive perspective of the battle of Mogadishu, Somalia--the longest sustained ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War.

Roughing It
The Hallmark Channel, March 16, 8:00 p.m., ET, check local listings.
Based on the 1872 novel "Roughing It" by Mark Twain, this four-hour special is a travelogue of Mark Twain's adventures as a young man in the old West. As such, the book and film are a first-hand account of what the country was actually like in those days.

All the King's Men
PBS, March 18, ET, check local listings.
According to one of the most curious legends of the First World War, the Sandringham Company, a mix of servants, grooms, and gardeners from the Royal Family's Norfolk Estate, advanced into battle on August 12, 1915, never to be seen again. This Exxon Mobil Masterpiece presentation lifts the veil of secrecy and uncovers their true fate. This program contains sensitive material, discretion is advised.

The Ultimate Guide: The Iceman
Discovery Channel, March 25, 9:00 p.m., ET, check local listings.
A follow-up to Iceman: Mummy from the Stone Age, this one-hour special follows researchers as they defrost "Otzi's" body once again to reopen the case of how he lived and died, examining bacteria found in his intestines, and studying his DNA to help trace his present-day descendents. The Stone Age is brought back to life through re-enactments and computer-generated imagery; including 3-D computer recreations that reveal what Otzi's face may have looked like 5,300 years ago.

Misunderstood Minds
PBS, March 27, 9:00 p.m., ET, check local listings.
For one in five students, learning is an exhausting and frustrating struggle. Often mistakenly called "lazy" or "stupid" by others, these children actually suffer from a learning disability, which if not addressed, can have a devastating impact on the students' self-esteem and future academic and social success. This 90-minute special follows the stories of five families as, together with experts, they try to understand their children's learning difficulties. This program shows the children's problems in a new light, providing an informative forum for opening a dialogue on how best to manage these young and vulnerable misunderstood minds. An interactive companion Web site can be found at www.pbs.org/misunderstoodminds.org.

The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project HBO, March 9, 8:00 p.m., ET, check local listings.
Set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, this adaptation of the off-Broadway play of the same name focuses on the events after the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. The Laramie Project presents not only the incidents surrounding the murder but the trials and extensive media coverage that followed the hate crime. Based on actual interviews with people in the community, the film provides a variety of perspectives on the crime and its effect on the people of Laramie. This program may contain sensitive material.

Women's History Month
A&E, A&E Classroom, March, 7:00 a.m., ET, check local listings.
In honor of Women's History Month, A&E Classroom will present Biography episodes about a variety of notable women, including Amelia Earhart, Karen Silkwood, Susan B. Anthony, and Joan of Arc.

__________________
KIDSNET, a national resource for children's media in Washington, D.C., provides these listings. For additional listings, check the web at www.kidsnet.org.

Web Winners

NEA/HIN Launches Asthma Web Site
NEA's Health Information Network has recently launched www.asthmaandschools.org, a Web site linking teachers, administrators, and education support professionals with resources and information on asthma. The site includes a series of short fact sheets about asthma and how to handle it at school; a searchable database of resources from asthma-oriented organizations; and a glossary of asthma-related terms to better understand asthma.

Classics Pages
Www.classicspage.com is a comprehensive Web site about the classics, with over 700 pages of news, information, games, and controversy about the life, literature, art, and archaeology of the ancient world of Greece and Rome--plus an award-winning bookshop. Students can "Ask the Oracle" about all aspects of Greek and Roman literature, mythology, or history. The Oracle will even translate bits of Greek and Latin that may have you stumped. The site even includes a lengthy list of Latin quotes. A fascinating, extensive site that can be useful for both teachers and students.

Read All About It
Here's a multi-curricular project in which your students produce their own newspaper based on the news articles submitted to the Newsday Web site by cooperating student correspondents. Your students become news gatherers and reporters, editors, layout and graphics artists, and publishers. Participation on an international scale leads students to understanding and interpreting broad issues, which transcend local concerns. This project can involve your students in weeks of cross-curricular activity. Go to www.gsn.org/project/newsday.

Get Connected and Communicate
EBoard offers schools an integrated, customized, no advertising version of the easy-to-use eBoard service. In just days, launch a service that contains no advertising and that matches the look and feel of your school or district's Web site. EBoard makes it easy to post messages, photos, links, and files on the Internet. Homework assignments, class announcements, grading information, and printable permission slips are all at a student's fingertips. Click on "Home" at www2.eboard.com/eboard/servlet/IndexLoginServlet.

All about Character Education
Are you trying to introduce character education at your school? Here's a comprehensive Web site with an excellent selection of resources, including lesson plans for all levels, a teachers guide, sample character education programs, links to good Web sites, information about emotional intelligence, bullying, terrorism, and an ERIC Digest that discusses the various definitions of and approaches to character education, divergent points of view on character education in schools and much more. Go to midgefrazel.net/character.html.

Looking for the Skittles Challenge
Schools from all over the world are participating in this fun online project that has an unusual combination. The newly announced project challenges students to use their math skills to predict what color appears most often in a bag of the popular candy Skittles. The data will be compiled and shared with participants daily starting on January 15, 2002. Go to www.lambeth.futureclass.net/projects/default.cfm.

Neuroscience Network For Kids
This fascinating Web site has been created for all students and teachers who would like to learn more about the nervous system. Enjoy the activities and experiments on your way to learning more about the brain and spinal cord. The neuroscience network provides answers from a team of neuroscientists around the world to questions about the nervous system. Be sure to read the questions and answers on file: Where can I get a model of the human brain? (many sources listed.) Do birds have a sense of taste? Go to http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html.

Learning Games
This lovely Web site is a multimedia-rich collection of online activities. Young learners will love pocketful of stars, the animated koalas, frogs, snow bowling, cranky crabs, bubble bees, penguin panic, milk the cow and more than two dozen others. Be sure you have plenty of time and be sure also that anyone who heads in has excellent mouse skills. Go to www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal.

The History and Science of Carnival Rides
This is a well-organized site that integrates concepts of science, safety, history, and business, as students design their own carnival rides. There are resources for teachers and plenty of interactive fun for students. Special features include interviews with a collector of antique windup toys, a roller coaster connoisseur, the owner of a company that restores carousels, and an MIT Media Lab scientist. Also included: survey and opportunities for student feedback. Well worth a visit. Go to http://library.thinkquest.org/C002926.

Learning: Reading
Teaching Kids by Educating Parents

A California literacy program trains parents to help their children read.

It's Tuesday night in San Diego, California, and after a hard day's work, a crowd of tired but dedicated parents boards a group of buses. Instead of taking them home, the buses head to a small downtown campus that by day serves elementary students, and by night helps parents eager to play a part in their children's education. When they reach their destination, parents drop off their babies and children at nearby classrooms and step into an evening of lessons.

Welcome to Parent University, a school community project helping children and parents from the city's poorest schools.

"The project is designed around literacy, because we know parents who read help their children succeed," explains NEA member Bea Fernandez, a Parent University coordinator. "And without the skills or the books to help them reinforce their children's learning, these parents can be just as lost as their children."

Parent University offers parents from these Title 1 schools guidance in reading aloud to their children, help in identifying books to read, and activities to do at home.

At the same time, the children in the program's child care and evening classrooms get help with their reading.

"We have trained aides and teachers reading to the children, helping them with homework, and leading activities," says Fernandez. "Even the babies and toddlers get into it because we have a very fun read-aloud every evening."

The classes run Tuesday and Thursday nights for eight-week sessions, and parents learn a variety of techniques to try at home.

"More than 200 parents take part now--a big increase from when the program began three years ago," says Fernandez. "Many of these are Hispanic parents, some of whom are intimidated by our schools. This is a tremendous commitment for them and indicates their desire to help their children."

In return, Parent University offers the parents access to a dedicated group of teachers, skilled in helping parents as well as children and committed to the literacy program.

"Parents aren't the only ones learning valuable lessons," adds Fernandez. "For some of the teachers, Parent University has been an education as well, teaching them about the lives outside of their classroom doors and adding insight and greater sensitivity to their teaching."

One special treat: A home library, given to four lucky parents at the end of each session. "We can't talk about reading to children at home if you don't have any books," says Fernandez. "We paired with the San Diego Literacy Foundation to collect the books, and it's wonderful to be able to give them."

"We're seeing more and more parents involved in education even beyond the reading," says Fernandez. "And the children are truly reaping the benefit of seeing their parents as role models of good reading behavior. It's truly a win-win situation."

How to...
Get Parents Involved

According to the National Center for Educa-tion Statistics, children who are read to at home have a higher success rate at school. Yet only 53 percent of children ages three to five are read to daily by a family member, and children in poor families are even less likely to be read to aloud every day. That's why programs like the Parent University are so important. What can you do for parents who want to advance literacy at home? Here are a few tips:

• Start with family reading nights. Getting parents to enjoy a family reading activity just might get them hooked on reading every night.

• Offer parents resources and materials they can use at home. Books that can be sent home and activities a child and parent can do together are great ways to get started.

• Let parents know that there are different ways to engage their children in reading. Create activities such as recognizing words in stores, reading recipes, looking for words in newspapers, asking about stories and characters, and writing and drawing projects.

• Always respect the parents, their needs, and their circumstances. Let them know what you can do to help, and offer other contacts and resources.

• Set up book-fairs, author visits--even presentations by other parents and parent coordinators--to make the experience as fun and educational for the parent as for the child.

Learning: Problems and Solutions
A Sense of Social Justice

Teachers turn to Amnesty International to teach students about human rights.

This year, students in Marie Ambrose's high school English class have studied writings on the Nazi Holocaust and the U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. They've also tackled material on more recent human rights abuses, from "ethnic cleansing" campaigns to the plight of political prisoners around the world.

Ambrose, who teaches at Wyoming Valley West High School in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, believes a knowledge of contemporary world culture is essential to students' understanding of historical literature. So she decided to participate in the Human Rights Education Program developed by Amnesty International, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nonprofit organization dedicated to ending human rights abuses around the world.

"The Holocaust and the internment will always retain their tragic enormity," says Ambrose. "But they become more vivid to today's students when they're removed from the vacuum of the past and placed in the context of a continuing world history in which basic rights are still denied."

Formally launched three years ago, the Human Rights Education Program supports the belief that students learn culture-related subjects better if they have a broader view of the world and its people. The program��which more than 4,000 K-12 and college educators have signed up for��offers training seminars for teachers in human rights and develops teaching materials geared to different age groups.

"Amnesty International doesn't try to politicize any teacher's curriculum," says Karen Robinson, director of the Human Rights Education Program. We provide education about the state of human rights in the world today."

Robinson points out that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations adopted in 1948, already is required public school reading in some parts of the United States.

Jennifer Bishop, a program participant and social studies teacher at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, Illinois, believes that contemporary human rights issues are an essential component of her curriculum.

"Look how quickly the questions came from students after the tragedy of September 11," says Bishop. "If we were teaching American history or government with blinders on, it stopped there. The dialogue had to expand to include the world around us, and indeed, it has promoted an amazing dialogue in my classes about terrorism and human rights."

Bishop says teaching human rights is a particularly valuable tool in social studies.

"First of all, you're teaching historical fact. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a historical document, as appropriate to teach as the Magna Carta. Second, human rights is a tremendous organizing theme.

You can't teach American history without teaching slavery, the plight of Native Americans, or women's rights. And those can't be treated as footnotes.

"If you organize your teaching around the theme of human rights, all of history begins to resonate for students," Bishop notes. "You can make unlimited historical connections when human rights is used as a common thread."

Ambrose and Bishop also serve as faculty sponsors of Amnesty International clubs at their respective schools. Ambrose's students are learning about Jose Francisco Gallardo, a Mexican general imprisoned for advocating a military ombudsman to oversee reported human rights violations by the Mexican armed forces. The students have been invited to help teach Gallardo's story to the Spanish class, Ambrose says.

Bishop says teaching human rights has fulfilled her dreams of what she wanted to achieve as a teacher.

"It fills my well," says Bishop. "I love it when I see kids' minds opening up, asking questions. Students have a strong sense of social justice, and I think they react more strongly to injustice. By doing what I'm doing, I'm able to see individual students becoming citizens of the world."

--Matt Simon

For more: E-mail Karen Robinson at krobinson@aiusa.org or phone Amnesty International at 212/807-8400.

Dilemma
How do you get your early morning classes awake and working?

I use my "Morning Movements" to wake up the sleepy heads. As my students enter the room, they are greeted to some jazzed up "Hokey Pokey" and other old favorites played softly in the background. Once they have settled and the announcements are over, I crank up the volume and we "jive to the music." For 15 minutes we listen and follow directions on various CDs and tapes. If I notice someone not involved, I take his or her hands and we jive together. This activity gets the blood flowing and some of the wiggles out as well. Afterward, I read our daily book and I involve the students in the story through role-playing.

Donna Welch Rankin
Elementary teacher
Panama City, Florida

My classes often depend on how energetic I am. If I come in beat and dead to the world, so will my students. My morning classes are really charged up, because I am charged up and ready to go to work. Students will follow their leader. If you do this from class day one and continue to show the same energy every day, your students will expect it every time and would even demand it. My classes have become very interesting because everyone in the class, including myself, is highly charged and ready to tackle the day's work. Try it! Keeping a highly charged and motivated classroom is infectious.

Victor Garcia
High school Spanish teacher
New Bern, North Carolina

To get my Spanish classes going in the morning we usually begin with oral conversation. We go around the room asking questions and practicing appropriate responses. After I model questions, students ask their own and call on different classmates. When we are doing grammar and students begin nodding off, we take a break and sing, do the chicken dance, play "Simon Says," do relay races, or have a scavenger hunt (all in the target language).

Marjorie Rios
Spanish teacher
Livingston, Tennessee

I have extremely sleepy first- and second-period language arts classes. I have tried many tactics, but one of the students' favorites is to play a quick game of "Simon Says." I go through the motions at double time so students have to engage their minds to follow the commands. Also, with the speedy commands, multiple motions take only a few short seconds. I am extremely strict with the rules, so even if students flinch, they could be out of the game. The competition motivates students to participate while they focus on hearing and carrying out the correct command. After the game the students seem more alert. This is a fun wake-up activity for both students and teacher and it steals only a few minutes from the class time.

Elizabeth Petroelje Stolle
Eighth grade language arts teacher
Naperville, Illinois

To begin the morning we start the day by doing our calendar routine. This time period includes the 100 chart and several other activities. The helper of the day chooses two different ways to count using the 100 chart and a pointer stick. They can count by ones, twos, fives, tens, or whatever they like. The students and myself all count together while jogging, jumping, skipping, hopping, squatting, or doing any other quick exercises. This seems to get the blood flowing and warm all of us up in the morning.

Tara D. Reed
English immersion teacher
Escondido, California

Got an Answer?
What do you do if a student has a crush on you?
E-mail your answer to dilemma2@list.nea.org. Or send by regular mail, or fax to 202/822-7206. Include your name, city, state, and job title. Published respondents will receive an NEA Today mug!

Idea Exchange

Make-Up Work Solution
I never had a good system for distributing work for absent students. So I devised a make-up work cover sheet that lists the day's assignments and any labs or activities. Each morning, I write the day's information on the sheet and photocopy it. When a student is absent, I write his/her name on the cover sheet, staple to it any papers handed out that day, and place the packet of papers into a file on the wall. Students know to look for their packets if they have been absent. The packets also are great for parents who pick up work for their children.

Gretchen Rohrs
Columbia, Missouri

Brian Stevens
Conway, Pennsylvania

Elaine Wargo
Perry, Ohio

Have a great idea? You can pass along your tip to NEA Today's 2.7 million readers in one of five ways:

• By mail: NEA Today, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036

• By phone: 202/822-7201

• By fax: 202/822-7206

• By E-mail: Ideas@neatoday.nea.org

• Through the Web: www.nea.org/neatoday

News: Rights Watch
Read Across--and For--America

People who cannot read by themselves are less able to think for themselves.

In the mid-19th century, the great poet Emily Dickinson penned a short paean to reading:

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any courses like a Page
Of prancing Poetry -
This Travers may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll -
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human soul.

One hundred years later, another famous poet, Dr. Theodor Geisel, said essentially the same thing: "Oh," he wrote, "the Places You'll Go!"

No matter their literary style, both Dickinson and Dr. Seuss had a burning desire to communicate the joy of reading. It is this same desire that compels NEA to sponsor--for the fifth year in a row--Read Across America, our annual "get out the book" campaign designed to inspire adults to spend time reading to children.

Unlike past years, NEA's Read Across America 2002 will officially take place on Friday, March 1, instead of on Dr. Seuss' actual birthday, which this year falls on a weekend. Music legend Garth Brooks will be the event's honorary chairman.

This year NEA's Read Across America carries particular global and political significance as well.

Its spirit is the same: We want to encourage adults to foster a love of reading among children. We know firsthand that children who are read to at home have a higher success rate at school. The U.S. Department of Education has found that the more that students read for fun, the higher their reading scores. Conversely, we know that children who are not read to at home stand to fall behind not only in school, but in life.

Yet, given all that has occurred in the world since September 11, it's incumbent upon us, as educators, to emphasize the broader, crucial, national importance of literacy.

For literacy is not only about the fun of reading to a five-year-old. It is not only about the places children can go without leaving their sofas. Ultimately, literacy is about preserving democracy and freedom. It is the vital cornerstone of America.

When people cannot read by themselves, they are less able to think for themselves. This makes them more susceptible to rumors, demagogues, propaganda, superstition, exploitation, and extremism.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Afghanistan has the second-highest illiteracy rate in the world. According to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 48 percent of Afghan men and 78 percent of Afghan women are illiterate.

But illiteracy is hardly limited to poor nations. Experts estimate that approximately 11 percent of Americans are, by UNESCO's definition, illiterate as well. If we are going to continue to flourish as a free and democratic society, we must ensure that every child, and adult, is visited regularly by the Cat in the Hat.

America, and free people everywhere, simply cannot prevail without literacy. 'Tis the "chariot that bears the human soul," indeed.

Comments? E-mail Bob Chase at BobChase@nea.org.

People
Going for Gold

NEA members fulfill their dreams at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games

During the past few months, members from Maine to California secured their places in Olympic history. Some carried the Olympic torch, while others performed in the opening ceremony or supervised the competitions. But regardless of their responsibilities, NEA's Olympians agree that being part of the Olympic Games is an unbelievable experience.

"It is one of the rarest opportunities that I've ever had," says Mary Ann Wilcox, a social studies teacher from Rock Springs, Wyoming. "It makes me proud to be an American."

Wilcox was one of about 500 ice skaters who performed in the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympics. She skated as a child and resumed skating about 12 years ago.

"The whole Olympic movement in Salt Lake has been a real unifying effort," she says. "It's been a wonderful experience of which I'm pleased to be a part."

NEA member Jerry Nadeau, associate director of admissions at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, framed his acceptance letter after he was selected to assist with the biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing with marksmanship. As one of six range supervisors, Nadeau (shown here resetting a target) monitored the targets on the course and recorded the points athletes earned for their shots.

"It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he says.

As a child, Sam Childress, of Grand Junction, Colorado, dreamed about being part of the Olympics. Childress, who has used a wheelchair for the past 21 years, realized his dream when he carried the Olympic torch on February 2. Childress completed his leg of the torch relay about one mile from Grand Mesa Middle School, where he teaches science.

"You hope that you inspire your students when you get to do something like that, for them to look at me and get a little bit of motivation," he says.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee, Coca-Cola, and Chevrolet accepted nominations in March and April 2001 for potential torchbearers. Organizers selected 11,500 torchbearers from the more than 210,000 nominations received. Each participant carried the torch about two-tenths of a mile. During its 65-day journey, the Olympic flame traveled 13,500 miles through 46 states, the greatest number of states ever covered by an Olympic torch relay in the United States.

Joe Fuller, a special education teacher from Springfield, Missouri, remembers seeing people along the road holding American flags and hearing them chant "U-S-A" during his torch run.

"They say it's like a life-changing experience and it really is, because you're drawn closer to everything. It's just really neat," Fuller says.

Fuller's run held special significance for him because his daughter, Megan Culver, also participated in the relay. Culver, who nominated her father for the relay, was the first person to light her torch when the relay arrived in Columbia, Missouri. Six runners later, the Olympic flame reached her dad.

"The truly amazing thing is that a lot of the schools let their kids out to watch the relay," says Culver, a fourth grade teacher from Liberty, Missouri. "So you saw a row of children sitting there and chanting �U-S-A.' That was neat, especially being a teacher."

Phyllis Bailey, an NEA-Retired member in San Bernardino, California, ran in the torch relay after her son nominated her. Bailey retired from full-time teaching in 1991 after 43 years in the classroom. She has worked as a substitute since then.

"It's such an honor. I've always loved the Olympics," Bailey says of her run. "And to have my son nominate me was very moving."

Phyllis Ranson, of Holland, Michigan, still has a hard time describing how she felt when she was selected to run with the torch. "I was really surprised at my reaction, because as soon as I found out I started bawling��and I'm not a crier," she says. "I just never thought it would really happen."

The week following her run, Ranson, an elementary physical education teacher, brought her Olympic torch to school so her students could have their pictures taken with it.

"Even now, I'm floored that I actually got to do it," Ranson says. "It was like being famous for a while."

--Kristen Loschert

NEA's Olympic Heroes

Nancy Allen, Missouri, teacher, torch relay; Dane Allred, Utah, high school drama teacher, torch relay; Debbie Allred, Utah, high school dance and English teacher, torch relay; George Armstrong, Michigan, high school special education teacher, torch relay; Phyllis Bailey, California, retired teacher, torch relay; Don Beam, Michigan, elementary physical education teacher, torch relay; Kevin Bellavance, Massachusetts, academic curriculum coordinator, torch relay; Kirk Benson, Idaho, social worker, torch relay; Clarinda Brueck, New Jersey, sixth grade science teacher, torch relay; Marjory Bubach, North Dakota, English teacher, torch relay; Sam Childress, Colorado, middle school science teacher, torch relay; Linda Conroy, Utah, kindergarten teacher, torch relay; Daniel Coughlin, Massachusetts, high school dean, torch relay; Bob Crosby, Michigan, high school physical education teacher, torch relay; Megan Culver, Missouri, fourth grade teacher, torch relay; James Farmer, Idaho, middle school math teacher, torch relay; Joe Fuller, Missouri, middle school special education teacher, torch relay; Mary T. Haley, Missouri, teacher, torch relay; Susan Hanly, Massachusetts, school nurse, torch relay; Sarah Henderson, Utah, elementary special education teacher, torch relay; Patricia Larkin, New Jersey, retired guidance counselor, torch relay; Chris Lechien, Pennsylvania, teacher, torch relay; Wendy Letourneau, Massachusetts, special education assistant, torch relay; Leda Levine, Massachusetts, high school physical education teacher, torch relay; Laura Lukassen, Colorado, special education teacher, torch relay; Cathy Lynch, Idaho, first grade teacher, torch relay; Kathy Milan, Massachusetts, high school physical education teacher, torch relay; Jerry Nadeau, Maine, assistant director of admissions, range supervisor for the biathlon; Keith O'Brien, Massachusetts, social studies teacher, torch relay; Tess Palczyski, Utah, middle school special education teacher, torch relay; Ned Pollert, Colorado, high school special education teacher, torch relay; Sam Provenza, Colorado, elementary physical education teacher, torch relay; Phyllis Ranson, Michigan, elementary physical education teacher, torch relay; Terri Rice, Colorado, junior high school teacher, torch relay; Allen Russell, Colorado, elementary physical education teacher, torch relay; Linda Stacey, Massachusetts, special education teacher, torch relay; Cathleen Tippett, Idaho, fifth grade teacher, torch relay; Jim Walker, Utah, retired middle school history teacher, torch relay; Sharon Wangsgard, Utah, junior high school physical education teacher, torch relay; Trudy Welsh, Colorado, elementary teacher, torch relay; Russ Werth, North Dakota, high school physical education teacher, torch relay; Mary Ann Wilcox, Wyoming, high school social studies teacher, opening ceremony; Gale Wondrasek, North Dakota, middle school physical education teacher, torch relay; Dave Potter, Michigan, adaptive physical education teacher, torch relay.

News
Public Education Embroiled In a Taxing Situation

School funding has been battered by the recession. Here's how poorly designed tax systems are making the situation worse.

Budget shortfalls and poorly planned tax strategies have combined during this recession to put increased strain on public education funding. Consider these facts:

• Combined state budget shortfalls have now soared to $40 billion--the result of a recession-related revenue decline, soaring health care costs, and the growing pricetag for homeland security. So says a recent analysis by the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association.

• Many states have compounded their shortfalls by making big pre-recession tax cuts or by failing to create tax systems that keep apace with growing personal incomes and a growing population's need for services.

• States' use of property tax abatements to attract corporate investment is at an historic high--at a time when most other state and local taxes are linked to slow-growth aspects of economic activity, such as alcohol and gasoline sales.

• "We have a tax system instituted in the early 1900s," notes Ed Hurley, an economist in NEA Research. "It's a system focused on tax revenue from the sale of manufactured goods. But in the 21st century, we've shifted from manufacturing to services, especially electronic commerce."

• Forty-five states and the District of Columbia rely heavily on the sales tax to fund critical services, including education, according to a study recently completed by the University of Tennes-see's Center for Business and Economic Research. Yet in 2001, the report estimates, state and local governments lost an estimated $13.3 billion in sales tax revenue "due to the inability to collect taxes from remote online purchases."

  And by 2006, the revenue loss could climb to $45.2 billion.

States with Built-In Deficits
How do we extract ourselves from this taxing morass? NEA Resolution A-13(f) states: "The state and local share of education finance must be derived from a tax system that is balanced and complementary in nature, includes all broad-based taxes, reduces the excessive reliance on property taxes, and protects subsistence income." And NEA is working with state affiliates to bring tax policies in line with this ideal.

NEA Research, which provides training, publications, and consulting services for state affiliates on tax policy and school finance issues, has helped several NEA state affiliates introduce the concept of structural deficits.

Structural deficits, as opposed to cyclical deficits caused by recessions, arise when there's a mismatch between growth in spending needed to maintain current services and growth in revenues from current taxes and fees.

States hardest hit by structural deficits often have chronic fiscal problems--in good economic times or bad. They lack personal income taxes and find it hard to capture revenue from economic growth.

In Tennessee, a state with a high corporate tax but no personal income tax, a heavy reliance on sales taxes has yielded a "huge structural deficit of $500 million a year" and two downgrades of state bond ratings, notes Graham Greeson, research director for the Tennessee Education Association. This unending fiscal crisis has harmed public education and has prompted TEA to put tax reform at the top of its legislative agenda.

Two NEA state affiliates are working to create better tax systems:

• Being proactive in Nevada. In fast-growing Nevada, school funding is based almost exclusively on gaming and sales tax revenues, while corporations pay state taxes amounting to only $100 per employee a year.

  In 2000, members of the Nevada State Education Association shook up the status quo by campaigning for a ballot initiative to levy a 4 percent tax on business net profits to support public education. While this publicly popular "Let's Be Fair" initiative was halted on constitutional grounds by the state Supreme Court, NSEA built a reputation as a force for tax reform.

  The state legislature quickly created the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy in Nevada, which was charged with focusing on broader tax policy issues and considering ways to reduce reliance on "volatile or cyclical revenue streams."

  NSEA Executive Director Ken Lange was named to this eight-member body. NSEA will be applying "Universal Guiding Principles of Fair Taxation Policy" to gauge others' recommendations--measuring for qualities like tax stability, equity, simplicity, and accountability.

  During the tax panel's deliberations, Lange adds, NSEA members will be conducting a public campaign on the pressing needs of Nevada schools. The goal: raise the state's per-pupil expenditure to the national average.

  "This increase will lead to substantial raises and better working conditions in the classroom," Lange says.

• Being aggressive in Michigan. Public schools in Michigan are heavily dependent on sales and use tax revenues.

  "But when somebody elects to make out-of-state purchases by phone, catalogue, or the Internet, the state school aid fund loses millions of dollars in uncollected revenues," says Michigan Education Association field lobbyist Dave Stafford. "If we could collect use taxes alone that are owed by consumers, Michigan schools would get an extra $65 to $70 million a year."

  That's why MEA worked with other organizations to win passage of model legislation crafted by the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, a consortium of state and local governments that is working to simplify and standardize state sales tax laws.

  The Project's model law, now adopted by Michigan and 19 other states, commits the signing states to meet in a conference this year to simplify everything from tax rates to definitions of taxable goods--and to certify software that will make it easier for all retailers, both on Main Street and on the Internet, to collect sales taxes.

  The Project's ultimate goal: prompt strong Congressional action on interstate Internet commerce.

• Making the tax issue an education issue. "If we are to continue to improve our schools," NEA President Bob Chase stresses, "we must continue to invest in research-proven reforms like small classes and better pay and professional development for teachers. Real reform requires real money."

  And in many states, real education reform may require tax reform.

  NEA affiliates "should always pay attention to and be involved in tax policy," recommends Nevada's Lange. "It's not always exciting stuff, but it's good for organizational development. As an Association, we need to look for solutions and play a leadership role in tax issues--not just be a petitioner."

For more on sales tax revenue loss to Internet commerce, go to www.statestudies.org/ecomreport.pdf.

And for more on the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, go to www.streamlinedsalestax.org.

Doing the Math

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia rely heavily on the sales tax to fund critical services, including education.

In 2001, state and local governments lost an estimated $13.3 billion in sales tax revenue from remote online purchases.

By 2006, revenue loss could climb to $45.2 billion.

Source: Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Tennessee

In Hamilton County, Great Ideas But No Money

Tennessee educators know how to boost inner-city achievement--but don't know how to get legislators to pay for it.

Want solid ideas for closing the student achievement gap? Look no further than Hamilton County, Tennessee, a large urban/suburban district where NEA members and administrators work as one through collaborative bargaining and increasingly think as one.

Ask either "side" what it takes to improve the performance of a struggling school, and you'll hear about must-haves like instructional support, adequate resources, and strong leadership--and the funding to make it all happen.

LaFrederick Thirkill, a negotiating team member for the 2,400-member Hamilton County Education Association, gives the issue of inner-city student achievement plenty of thought, both in writing his master's thesis and working as a fourth-year music teacher in Chattanooga's Howard Elementary.

Thirkill argues for stepped-up supports and resources for urban teachers. "At one point at Howard Elementary, 60 percent of our teachers had less than three years of experience," he points out. "New urban teachers don't have many strategies, are often shocked by their initial experience with cultural diversity, and are demoralized by a shortage of materials. I arrived at this school to find a limited number of textbooks and no instruments or CDs to demonstrate my lessons."

Across the bargaining table, Superintendent Jesse Register plays in near-perfect harmony. His administration has drafted a five-year strategic plan that emphasizes recruitment and retention of good teachers, especially for inner-city schools.

"Poverty schools need more to be successful," the superintendent emphasizes. "It's important to support teachers in them--incentive pay for inner-city schools will be an issue for negotiations--and we think we need instructional support staff working in them."

Register has advanced a range of thoughtful proposals, including specialized administrators for state-designated "on-notice" schools; experienced, school-based consulting teachers; and even a longer school year.

But Tennessee's a place where even popular, visionary administrators soon hit the brick wall of school finance.

And this is a wall of double thickness: an inequitable state funding formula that pays too little to districts with many special-needs kids, financed by a state tax system that never keeps up with the growing needs of all schools and students.

Hamilton County can barely fund its school budget from state sources, forcing it to seek private and foundation grants for everything from school materials to whole new buildings. "We've become champions at pursuing grants," sighs the superintendent.

And Tennessee's chronic fiscal crisis, compounded by the current recession, is undermining public education across the state, threatening pre-school programs in the inner cities and driving hundreds of teachers--especially in border counties--to cross state lines to teach for more money.

"Hamilton County sits on the Georgia border," notes UniServ Coordinator Gerry Dowler. "We're losing 60 to 90 teachers a year to Georgia schools, including some fabulous, highly experienced educators. This affects the morale of the teachers who stay behind and hang in for measly two-and-a-half percent raises, hoping legislators will fix the problem."

But Tennessee lawmakers only seem to favor a "fix" that drives shoppers as well as teachers across state lines--raising the sales tax another penny. Many Tennesseans already pay combined state and local sales taxes reaching a whopping 8.75 percent.

"We need a tax system that offers continuity, grows with the clientele of our schools, and pays teacher salaries that'll carry us to the 22nd century," argues Dowler.

"In my opinion, this state has to deal with revenue and tax reform," agrees Superintendent Register. "Anti-tax people's voices are loud, so teachers, parents, and community people have to make [an equally] loud noise for education funding."