The political benefits are clear enough from the letter Gov. Dave Heineman sent to the Nebraska State Education Association.

Any politician who can energize thousands of teachers on his or her behalf has a prime statewide advantage.

Presumably that's why the letter was "paid for by the Gov. Dave Heineman Committee."

But the letter will add to misunderstanding and unnecessarily complicate discussions on teacher salaries from Crawford to Plattsmouth.

Negotiations between school boards and teacher bargaining units are tough enough without Heineman injecting himself into the discussion.

In his letter, Heineman said state government has given local school districts enough money to provide salaries that are competitive with surrounding states, "yet teacher salaries at the local level are less than national and regional averages.'

Heineman pointed out that $234 million in federal stimulus funds was used to provide a 22 percent increase in state aid to schools in the two-year budget. He also referred to previous boosts in state aid while he was governor.

Few Nebraskans would disagree with the need for competitive salaries to recruit and train teachers.

But Heineman failed to mention a few other key points.

Most importantly, that 22 percent increase in state aid does not apply equally to every district. Next year, many school districts in Nebraska actually will see a decrease in their state aid, for example.

Also significant is the fact that stimulus funding is one-time money from the federal government. After two years, state taxpayers will be hard-pressed to make up the difference.

In addition, there is some question on how much trust should be placed in the surveys that currently show Nebraska mired in 45th place in the nation in average teacher salaries.

A new Web site, TeacherPortal.com uses a properiety method that compares teacher salaries to cost of living to come up with a "salary comfort score." Using that method, Nebraska ranks 17th in the country.

There also may be uncertainty on whether the salary figures from other states are strictly comparable to Nebraska. In Nebraska, for example, there has been emphasis on keeping medical insurance deductible payments low. Other states may have higher salaries, but they also have higher deductibles.

There's no doubt that the governor's letter will be used to apply leverage. A letter from Jess Wolf to all NSEA members says, "encourage your local association negotiation teams to use this letter to help set the tone at the bargaining table."

The governor's meddling was unprecedented and unnecessary. State government has daunting problems of its own. Heineman should focus on solving those, rather than telling local officials what to do.