Thread by @HeathMayo

I’ll probably never run for office, but if I ever did—my radical idea would be to pay in-classroom teachers $100,000, lengthen the school year, & treat educators like professionals by hiring/firing on merit.

Good teachers create WAY more economic & societal value than we pay.

For perspective, the average teacher salary in Texas is just $59k…

Other ideas:
—Reduce admin staff by 10%
—Tie principal & superintendent compensation to school/district performance improvement; same hire/fire rules apply
—Allow for student funneling/specialization earlier in the K12 cycle.
—Radical transparency on district performance & budget

And the #DadsOnDuty thing. Every school in America should have a chapter.

Last thing, but a big one: if we’re going to fund public schools through property taxes, per pupil funding should be fixed across the state, with any variations based on the costs to properly educate in a given area. The opportunity gap in public schools by zip code has to end.

And as a condition to all of the “radical” positions above, we get rid of the teachers’ unions so that we can make these needed changes to the profession.

One more: reduce certification requirements so that more people can *apply* to become educators from other walks of life / professions, but make the application/interview process extremely rigorous.

It should be as rigorous and competitive as a consulting or a banking interview.

As always, tons of quality, thoughtful responses to this thread—and some really solid other ideas. I particularly like the push for smaller class sizes. Thanks for engaging, y’all.