To help in

attracting and retaining good teachers Seabaugh

has signed on with State School Superintendent

Linda Schrenko's number one priority for next

year - a 10-percent increase in teacher's

pay.

"Governor

Barnes cut more than $189 million from the

education budget," Seabaugh said. "He

cut money from the classroom and has added

additional bureaucracy. After reviewing the

numbers, I believe there is money there to

support a teacher pay raise."

Seabaugh says he

will also work to restore funding for labs that

was cut in Barnes' plan. "Governor Barnes

cut funding for non-votechnical labs and has

threatened middle school fine arts programs with

lack of support," Seabaugh said. "We

need to restore the funding for those

programs."

Seabaugh continued,

"If we don't support labs and fine arts

programs, prospective businesses will not want to

relocate here because they want their children to

have a well rounded education."

Providing

incentives for quality teachers to teach at

failing schools is another item in Seabaugh's

plan. He charges Barnes' plan is punitive and

that will keep teachers from wanting to teach at

struggling schools.

"We need to

provide an incentive for quality teachers to go

in and help turn around failing schools, not

punish them for not meeting marks established by

persons unfamiliar with education," Seabaugh

said.

Also on Seabaugh's

list is support for the "Reading First"

program. "We have to ensure our children can

read by the fourth grade," Seabaugh said.

"We need to target those children who need

special attention and ensure they are not left

behind."

A very important

part of Seabaugh's proposal is to return to

academic based testing rather than Barnes'

performance based testing.

"Barnes'

program rewards those who are good at taking

tests rather than mastering the material,"

Seabaugh said. "We need to ensure that our

children gain the knowledge necessary to

succeed."

Seabaugh continued,

"The basic structure that I feel is more

successful for education is for our local schools

to have the flexibility to decide how they are

going to attain educational goals. We need to let

our teachers teach."

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