As a veteran teacher of Truckee High School, I feel there are certain issues which need to be clarified and made public, and I am hoping that the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District Board of Trustees will enlighten me as well the general public in a response to this letter.

If the information is not verified, I implore the community to write the school board to discover the answers to the following questions.

First, the public should know how much the district is spending on a San Francisco- based lawyer to keep the local teachers from receiving a fair wage. The lawyer receives $265 an hour, not including travel and other expenses, and has logged approximately 150 hours. The teachers still do not have a salary resolution for the 2007/2008 school year; it is May and the teachers of TTUSD continue to be the lowest paid of the basic aid districts.

How much more money is the lawyer budgeted to receive? What are the additional expenses incurred?

Second, the community needs to know how much money is being spent for school district consultants. One such consultant is receiving over $700 a day plus travel expenses. A transparent list of all consultants, fees and distinct office salaries should be made public so the community knows how much of their tax money is being spent on the “consulting of experts.”

Third, after we are informed of the list of consultants, lawyers, finance managers and assistant finance managers, we need to ask, why, with all the experts on the books, was the charter school issue such a huge surprise to the board? Who, after all, is taking care of the 39.2 percent over three-year increase in property taxes along with all other monies? Where is the accountability?

Funding highly paid consultants and lawyers was not mentioned as one of the Education Matters priorities. Why do they, and not teachers, seem to be a priority for the district? Why were the teachers, the second item mentioned in Education Matters, offered a 0 percent increase? Zero is insulting and has left a bitter taste especially when compared to the money being shelled out to the out-of-classroom consultants. Are they more important than teachers and students?

Ask the questions! You and I have a right to know the answers.

<i>Karen Hutchinson is a teacher at Truckee High School.</i>