Education agreement could be close

Iowa’s democrat Governor and a key republican say they’ve made progress in talks which may ultimately yield a plan to boost Iowa teachers’ pay. A panel of democrat and republican state legislators will soon be appointed to iron out the details of a teacher pay plan. Governor Tom Vilsack says that plan is to include merit pay and a two-year internship period for rookie teachers. Marvin Pomerantz, a republican businessman from Des Moines who’s tried to spearhead this issue for the past five years, met with Governor Tom Vilsack and key legislators yesterday. He says he’s becoming optimistic that the plan will be worked out soon.There’s been no agreement on how large pay raises might be.