Some educators have a unique perspective of the world.

For example, consider a letter to the editor in today’s Call written by Michael Ghormley, a Mehlville Senior High School teacher. In his letter, Ghormley addresses comments made by Board of Education President Venki Palamand concerning the recently approved memorandum of understanding between the school board and the Mehlville National Education Association.

Palamand and board member Ron Fedorchak voted against the agreement, citing a lack of increased instructional days.

Ghormley, who served as chief negotiator for the Mehlville NEA during discussions with the board, takes exception that Palamand said the approved agreement provides, on average, a 5-percent pay increase over the next two years because no increase was made to the base salary.

In the real world, any time your paycheck increases, that’s a raise. In this case, while it’s true no money has been added to the base salary, the vast majority of teachers will see pay increases over the next two years.

But don’t take our word for it. The district’s preliminary budget for the coming school year projects a salary increase of roughly $1.3 million compared to fiscal 2012 — $59,192,000 to $60,525,000 — due to “granting step and channel changes to certified staff and similar percentages to classified personnel,” according to information provided to the school board. That amount is subject to board approval.

We can only speculate that teachers not receiving a salary increase most likely are those at the top of the salary schedule. Yet if the agreement was such a poor one, why did teachers ratify it with 93-percent approval?

In his letter, Ghormley also writes, “After being frozen on last year’s schedule, teachers have hardly received a windfall and remain some of the most poorly paid educators in St Louis.”

While teachers remained on the same step they were on for the 2010-2011 school year, the amount of that step increased by $950.

We applaud teachers for the work they do and would have liked to see their base salary increased.

Perhaps if MNEA negotiators spent less time wrangling over teacher pay for increased instructional days during negotiations, that could have been accomplished. But to contend you’re not receiving a raise when your paycheck increases is misleading and disingenuous at best.