Since I've been talking some education policy today, may as well link to Kevin Carey's rundown of the tremendous efforts Michelle Rhee is making to reform DC's school. DC is one of those town where achievement is so low, and spending so high, that the teacher's unions and the bureaucracy don't have any credibility to stand against even extremely radical reforms. And Rhee's proposed reform isn't that radical. She wants to create a parallel, opt-in track for teachers that would drastically increase potential pay but reduce job security. In other words, good teachers could be paid like highly skilled professionals, and bad ones could be fired. John Kerry actually proposed something very similar four years ago. It's a pity, incidentally, that the DC teachers union is fighting this. Not only because it's a good idea, but because fighting a good idea in a crisis school district where innovation is blindingly necessary sharply degrades their credibility to stand against actually destructive or genuinely anti-union ideas down the road.
