Using their
thinking caps
Unicameral finally taking note
of underpaid teachers
With 10 days left in the Nebraska Legislature’s ses
sion, the unicameral is finally taking steps toward
addressing teachers’ pay.
In early March, Education Committee members nixed
two bills that would have raised Nebraska teachers’
salaries, which, according to a report released in
But with
teachers
gaining no
money this
year, it’s going
to be hard to
tell them to
wait ‘til next
year. And it’s
going to be
hard to keep
quality
educators from
going to a state
that truly
respects them.
uecemoer oy me rsauonai
Education Association, rank
43rd in the nation.
Instead, Sen. Ardyce
Bohlke proposed a bill,
LB 1399, that would estab
lish a task force to evaluate
ways to raise teacher pay.
The bill also suggested
teachers who receive nation
al accreditation should
receive a bonus. Nebraska
currently has only eight
nationally accredited teach
ers.
The bonus was initially
set at $10,000 annually, then
lowered to $7,500 when the
bill left committee.
By the time lawmakers
on the floor voted on the bill,
that number had been
reduced to $5,000 a year.
Their final decision was
to drop the bonus altogether
because Gov. Mike Johanns
threatened to strike it down
himself - the extra money
would have been outside his
budget recommendations.
On Friday, the Legislature all but instituted the task
force, and with such a small portion of the legislative ses
sion remaining, that’s the most anyone who supports bet
ter education in Nebraska could hope for.
The task force will complete its evaluation on Oct. 1,
2000, possibly in time to get something done in next year’s
legislative session.
But with teachers gaining no money this year, it’s
going to be hard to tell them to wait ‘til next year.
And it’s going to be hard to keep quality educators
from going to a state that truly respects them.
Editorial Board
Josh Funk (editor) • J.J. Harder • Cliff Hicks • Samuel
McKewon • Dane Stickney • Kimberly Sweet • Lindsay
Young
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Obermeyer’s
VIEW
1VB REAL Reason d^HlNP M/WM2- OF THE oceans.,.
Letters to the
EDITOR
Nerd defense
As the structure of the Kauffman
Center rises and controversy rises
along with it, I’d like to put in a word
of defense for myself and the rest of
my fellow computer science/engi
neering/business nerds.
When I was in high school, I sac
rificed most of my free time to take
honors classes. My senior year, when
most of my friends took it easy, I
spent the summer taking a self
taught crash course in pre-calc so I
could take honors calculus, took an
advanced placement literature
course and completed my fourth year
of French.
When I got to UNL, I applied and
was accepted into J.D. Edwards, a
program that obligates me not only to
fill my computer science require
ments, but also the requirements of
the Honors program and an addition
al truckload of extensive, hands
on work with business
structure and applica
tion that is specifically
designed for J.D.E. stu
dents.
Handling this
workload along with
being on the track team
is turning out to be
quite a challenge for
me. I’ve decided to
give up the majority of
my vacations to take
summer school for the
next four years to ease
the pressure during
semesters. Even with
that, it’ll be quite a
challenge to keep my
GPA above the 3.5 that
I need to stay in the
program, especially
considering the diffi
culty of my classes.
The Kauffman
Center will be open
to J.D. Edwards stu
dents in the summer
of 2001. Assuming I
manage to make it
that far, when I
finally open the
door of my posh
upperclassman
suite, I’m not going
to feel very guilty.
After working this hard to earn a
place in the new facility, I think the
first thing I’ll do is collapse on the
couch in my new living room and
sleep for about three days.
Christy Linnell
freshman
computer science
J.D. Edwards Honors Program
Elective exception
As a supporter of LB 1405 and as
an active supporter of life, I was dis
appointed after reading the article
pertaining to the Regents’ perspec
tives of LB 1405 (DN 3/23). It seems
as though the whole truth about our
opposition to die use of aborted fetal
tissue in research at the UNMC is
being
Neal Obermeyer/DN
misrepresented again.
It has been said repeatedly that
we in the pro-life movement want the
research to be banned. This is untrue.
We understand this research could
help save lives, arid we are strong
supporters of life, from conception
to natural death. What we do want,
however, is a ban on the use of fetal
tissue obtained from elective abor
tions in the research.
Banning the use of aborted fetal
tissue will not end the research.
There are other respected institutions
(e.g. the University of Minnesota
Twin Cities, Georgetown University,
the University of Tennessee
Memphis, to name a few) that are
doing research similar to that being
done at UNMC, with the exception
that they are not using tissue
obtained from elective abor
tions.
Then where are these
institutions obtaining the
tissue from?
The tissue they use
comes from natural
miscarriages and from
adult human stem
cells. It is obvious
from the research at
these institutions that
aborted fetal tissue is
not the only viable
means for the research
to continue, contrary
to what opponents of
LB 1405 claim.
The research can
continue to save lives
wifh the use of these
>■ alternative sources,
. sources that do not
result in the loss of the
lives of the pre-bom.
This is what we in
the pro-life movement
would like to see happen
with the passing of
LB 1405.
Sara L. Fiedler
junior
English and psy
chology
Students for LIFE