After months of wrangling, the House and Senate finally came together with the governor last week to announce an agreement on historic funding for public education.

The plan includes $625 million in recurring funding for public schools, $125 million of which will go toward rural districts that receive less in ad valorem funding than others.

I've talked to many of our area school superintendents, and they believe this will help their districts.

A portion of the funding is marked for teacher pay raises of between $3,000 and $6,000 depending on a teacher's years of service. Teachers also will rec...