Well. A few more comments about teacher compensation, and then I’ll quit whining, OK? The State Merit System retirement plan is a mandatory "fringe benefit" for public school teachers. Many local teachers I have talked to really believe it is a good plan. Maybe it is, but there are some questions about it I’ve pondered for quite some time. Each month, six percent of our gross pay is deducted as our contribution to our retirement plan. That seems fairly normal for a retirement plan, although for Florida teachers the entire contribution is paid by the employer.

What is interesting to me is that the amount of our pay deducted does not begin earning interest on our account until the end of our contract-year paychecks in the fall. I contribute over $2000 each year, so on the average, over $1000 of my money is held somewhere during the contract year without earning me interest. Multiply this by the number of teachers in Georgia and you surely come up with millions of dollars being held somewhere, surely earning interest for someone.

One other thing about this retirement plan. I’m sure those of you with private company plans are familiar with the term "vestment." I’m a little fuzzy on this, but it seems to me there is (or was) a federal law that requires company sponsored retirement plans to give the employee a vested interest in the employers contribution to the plan. As best I can recall, the plans must vest at a minimum rate of 10% per year, giving a 100% vestment after ten years. Maybe one of our local attorneys can straighten me out on this. Whatever the case, the State Merit System plan never "vests" for us teachers. If you choose, or have to, withdraw your retirement prior to actually retiring, you lose all rights to any contributions made on your behalf by your employer. How does our plan escape these laws? Is it merely a retirement "insurance" plan?

I have written to the State Merit System asking for specific answers to these two questions, and I will share their response with you as soon as I receive it.

I told you at some point I’d quit whining, and this is it. Summer school is over this week, and I’m going to take a vacation. There was a young man who worked for me at Fort Leonard Wood, I won’t bother you with the year. His name was Adam Clayton Powell III, and his father was a congressman from Harlem. It seems that his father was accused of spending taxpayer money unwisely, and spending a lot of time on the island of Bimini. For this he lost his seat in Congress, and had to go to the Supreme Court to regain it. More recently there was a presidential candidate, Gary Hart, who maybe spent too much time on a boat called "Monkey Business", cruising to Bimini. I didn’t know him though.... Nevertheless, these connections, along with Hemingway’s wonderful novel Islands in the Stream have convinced me that an adventure to Bimini myself was necessary. There’s nothing like seeing it for yourself. So... I’m off, spinning rod, camera, and notebook in-hand. I board the 1940’s era seaplane from Miami Sunday. I’ll give you a report when I return.