Sunday, February 26, 2012

This matters. Go here. Sign this petition.

Educators: Are you tired of working harder, with more students and fewer colleagues, for the same salary you earned three years ago, and seeing its value decrease as your cost of living goes up?

Go here. Sign this petition.

Parents: Educators never came into their professions to become wealthy, but they never expected to have their salaries frozen and to take, in many cases, a second and third job to make ends meet while teaching more students with fewer resources. They appreciate all the support you'll give them.

Go here. Sign this petition.

Lawmakers who support public education: We get it, you're a minority in the legislature. But the state Constitution gives only 170 South Carolinians the power to stand in the House and Senate and raise your voices on behalf of children, parents and public school educators. Right now, you're one of those 170 individuals.

As tired as you get of railing against the cinderblock wall that represents our state government; as hoarse as you might get speaking truth to inattentive power; the public school educators of South Carolina have grown just as tired and more, just as hoarse and more, seeing their colleagues' positions cut, seeing their own class sizes swell, seeing their supply funds depleted, seeing their cost of living rise and their salaries stuck in place, losing their value daily.

While your chamber is in session, we plead with you to speak up and out. And so that we all know who you are, we ask you to do one more thing.

Go here. Sign this petition.

There are more of us who feel this way than this petition currently reflects.

Maybe your son or daughter is a public school educator, or wants to be one. Please support them and their profession.

Maybe your brother or sister is a public school educator, or want to be one. Please support them and their profession.

Go here. Sign this petition.

Maybe your mom or dad is a public school educator. Please support them and their profession.

Maybe your husband or wife is a public school educator. Please support them and their profession.

Go here. Sign this petition.

Maybe your neighbor, your old classmate, your best friend is a public school educator. Please support them and their profession.

Maybe the waitress or waiter who served you dinner one night this week, or the cashier who rang up your groceries, is a public school educator. Please support them and their profession.

Go here. Sign this petition.

This matters.

It matters because all of South Carolina's students deserve to have capable, caring, knowledgeable and qualified educators standing before them in class.

It matters because the public school educators you know personally, by name, are just like you: unable to save enough for a down payment on a home; no more than one paycheck away from defaulting on a mortgage; praying that small ailments don't turn into large health concerns because that will spell financial disaster.

It matters because South Carolina is a "right-to-work-for-less" state, which means public employees have little recourse as individuals, and raising legitimate grievances can cost them their livelihoods, and lawmakers hold all economic power over their lives and professions.

So please. Go here. Sign this petition.

Then forward this blog post to everyone in your email address book, and ask them all to address this issue together.

Forward this blog post to everyone in your Facebook friends list, and ask your real friends to step forward.

Forward this blog post to everyone on your church email list, and ask your pastor to pray about it loudly and forcefully every Sunday until prayer yields a positive result.

Forward this blog post to all of your frat brothers and sorors, and make this an immediate project.

Forward this blog post to everyone in your homeowners association, and remind them that home values are tied to school quality, and school quality is tied to educator quality, and educator quality is tied to financial stability.

And after you've gone here and signed this petition, tell all the public school educators you know that you support them. They need it, right now, every one of them, and they don't hear it enough to believe it.

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