The reason for tenure is to protect the integrity of the teaching position. As a teacher gains experience, so does his value as an educator. His rise through the salary steps reflects that value, just as a worker gains experience in the private sector and his salary rises accordingly. Tenure also allows the teacher protection from vindictive administrators, who, much as we wish didn't exist, certainly do.

Experience can mean many things. An experienced worker makes less mistakes, gets the job done more quickly and more efficiently, can transfer his knowledge to his co-workers, and serve his customers (or students) in a professional manner that is a result of ever increasing self-confidence.

A growing trend in business, has, unfortunately, been to replace the more experienced (and consequently more highly paid worker) with a younger, less experienced worker. The employer saves money, but a customer doesn't.

If you were seeking the service of a doctor, dentist, or plumber, would you pick a beginner? Would you choose a neurosurgeon who would be doing his first solo surgery on you? At $70 an hour, would you entrust an inexperienced auto mechanic to do the brakes on your $30,000 car, the very same one that transports your loved ones on I-4?

Given the opportunity, I'm sure the Volusia County School Board could save us lots of money by replacing all the experienced, tenured teachers with inexperienced, low-salaried, and perhaps even degreeless teachers for a fraction of the cost. (Most of them, by the way, seem past the point where their kids are still in school, and so may share the opinion of people who would do away with tenure.) However, I am forever indebted to the experienced, and hence knowledgeable teachers who inspired me towards a career in education, and in so doing helped me to provide for my family.