Our opponents did not divide and conquer. We stood strong. I n Alabama, there are standards and double standards. This tough choice disturbs DeKalb fourth grade teacher Anita Gibson, who teaches Alabama history and reading in rural Rainsville, just a short drive from the Peach State.
Teachers can influence kids both inside and outside of school.
Bailer feels so strongly about teacher pay that last spring she collected letters from teacher colleagues at Section High School in Jackson, took a personal day, and rode to the state Capitol with Anita Gibson to lobby legislators for a bill to increase Alabama teacher salaries to the national average. This precedent-setting legislation, jointly drafted and promoted by the Alabama Education Association and Democratic Governor Don Siegelman, wouldn't even have surfaced for a committee vote if teachers like Gibson and support staffers like Bailer had refused to join forces. The bill was fiercely opposed by powerful interests like the higher education establishment, school boards, and big-city newspapers. But teachers, ESP, and retired Association members stuck together, refusing to buy the opponents' claim that more money for teachers meant less money for universities, other educators, and public school needs. Their unity and lobbying skills eventually yielded legislation that will raise the salaries of Alabama teachers, counselors, and librarians to the national average in this decade.