We urge state legislators to approve a measure that would boost the pay of top mathematics and science teachers.

"People getting a degree in math or science are typically not on track to be teachers," Stephenson said. But they might teach if the rewards were greater.

It is simply a fact that future students will need to perform better in those subjects to succeed in school and in life.

In a world evermore dependent on technology and data, teachers with skills in math and science have greater value in the job market than, say, a teacher of history or geography. And, as in industry, the competition seeks out skilled workers.

So, who would question giving trained specialists a well-deserved raise? Surprise. It's the Utah Education Association. It doesn't like the idea of creating groups of teachers who get different levels of pay. It wants everybody together. Giving some teachers more than others would be divisive, the group claims.

"We're not sure the divisiveness is necessary, and, at the $5,000 level, is going to be worth it," said Vic Arnold of the UEA.

We agree that a $5,000 raise may not be a cure-all, but it's a great start.

Teachers unions typically fight any plan for differentials in teacher pay, except for seniority and raises for paper credentials. But nobody has yet explained why the salary of Teacher A is any business of Teacher B. The free market ought to be able to decide what people are worth. If somebody feels underpaid, there's nothing to prevent his seeking more money in a different place.

Fixed pay schedules are outmoded in the rough-and-tumble world of modern economic life. Employers (in this case the State of Utah) and employees need to get comfortable with a world in which competition dictates outcomes.

Not surprisingly, at least two Democratic lawmakers have doubts about the proposed pay differential. Sens. Patricia Jones and Ross Romero, both of Salt Lake, questioned the wisdom of singling out high-demand teachers for raises. Perhaps they don't recognize that it's not the government that created demand for math and science teachers. It's the job market.

UEA's Arnold said districts already have the latitude to increase salaries for hard-to-fill positions. Yet the education lobby's ceaseless mantra is that the state should raise teacher pay. Now we see that they're really interested in raising pay only if they can also retain their traditional uniform pay scales.

The red herring in UEA's argument is that it's better to pay all teachers an "adequate" salary. Such language reflects a belief that certain levels of pay are "fair" or "unfair" in some absolute sense outside the laws of supply and demand.

But of course economics provides no absolute standard of fairness or unfairness. Experience shows that the most efficient way to set wages is to allow the market to work. Every job is "worth" precisely what an employer will pay and an employee will accept. In the case of specialized teachers in math and science, the labor market has spoken -- no, shouted.

Percolating through this issue is the subtle but pernicious notion that all teachers must be treated alike. This hearkens back to the era of factory laborers whose efforts could be easily measured. A thousand buttons a day was a thousand buttons a day; it didn't matter how much education you had.

But educators are not assembly line workers. The world economy has moved to high-tech. It requires a much greater degree of technical proficiency, genuine skills in subjects that too many Americans abhorred throughout their own school years. Today's schools must be geared to serve the continually specialized needs of the marketplace.

That means acquiring -- and retaining -- more specialized teachers. Pay scales should reflect the mission of the school system today, not old notions rooted in the bygone heyday of organized labor.

Blanket pay raises for teachers have outlived their usefulness, said Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights. "I think this is the day we have to unbundle this concept in public education."

We agree. And that is another benefit of SB-35 -- it aims to bring Utah education into the 21st century.

The bill proposing the raises came before the Senate Education Committee along with another measure to create a Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Task Force to study the issues. The committee approved both 7-1 with Romero casting the "no" vote each time. They now move to the Senate floor for debate.

We urge the senators to sign off on these. Doing so will go far in helping prepare Utah to meet the demands of tomorrow's world.

Come to think of it, the demand is here today.