A spouter complained about teacher starting salaries, citing teachers' health benefits and pensions as a reason to keep salaries low. Teachers no longer get their health care paid for, and teachers' contributions to the pension system have continually increased because for decades the state has not made its constitutionally mandated contributions. Additionally, governors have allowed their handpicked cronies to invest the pension funds with disastrous results. As a result of these things the future of the pension is uncertain. If we want salaries suppressed, benefits need to be restored.