Tuesday, November 10, 1998

Teacher benefits

There has been much discussion about Texas teacher benefits vs. state employees' benefits.

Teachers deserve equal benefits from the state. The state contributes only 6 percent to the teachers' retirement package, yet it contributes a total of 13.65 percent to the state employees' retirement package (TRS plus Social Security).

No other state in the nation is willing to give so little to its teachers. The 13 non-Social Security paying states (Texas is one of them) have an average contribution of more than 12 percent, more than twice our 6 percent rate.

The Texas Legislature reached a new low in the humiliation of Texas teachers when the 1995 session lowered the state contribution rate to TRS to the constitutional minimum of 6 percent, then refused to give teachers the same 2.25 percent multiplier it gave state employees in 1997 (S.B. 1102).

In 1994 many retired teachers were living at poverty levels, and measures passed in 1995 and 1997 did nothing to prevent this from happening again. No wonder Texas is having so much trouble keeping certified teachers; our current benefits provide no incentives.

Education is supposed to be a top priority in our state. Don't our legislators need to be as concerned about benefits of our state teachers as they are about those of state employees?

The state is the one who determines and governs teachers' entire retirement package. State legislators cannot keep denying their responsibility for teacher retirement benefits. School districts do not have the power to improve teacher retirement benefits - legislators do!

JOHN REISING

Abilene

Brady loophole

On Sunday, Nov. 8, the Abilene Reporter-News ran an article on the Brady Law and gunshows.

President Clinton says in the article that gunshows do not require the waiting period. That is a half-truth (as close as Clinton can get).

The waiting period is required whenever a handgun is purchased, be it at a gunshow or not, as long as it is purchased from a licensed dealer.

The Brady Law caused many licensed dealers to choose not to renew their licenses because of the strict regulations in the law. When that happened, those dealers just became gun owners and were not bound by the Brady Law to dispose of their personal property.

So, as you can see, the Brady Law, signed by Clinton, created the loophole.

CHRIS LANFORD

Abilene

Via e-mail

A poet to read

Poet Julian Long, an Abilene native (AHS 1955), will read from his new book, High Wire Man, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Center for Contemporary Arts during November's Artwalk.

Long teaches philosophy and creative writing at the University of North Texas. During the 1980s, he taught in Abilene public schools and at McMurry University.

His book was published this spring by the Trilobite Press with the support of the Friends of University of North Texas Libraries.

Poetry has become somewhat the step-child of letters in the 20th century.

I doubt our bookstores are often disturbed by patrons rushing in to demand the latest slim volume of verses by, for instance, Charles Simic or Louise Gluck, two of today's better-known poets.

Perhaps we've lost the knack for reading poetry, which is more akin to music than to the novel.

At any rate, I hope Julian's old friends and friends of literature will come to hear his excellent poems.

PATRICK BENNETT

Abilene