This week, Mr. Apple was elected to the Cartersville City School board.

I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some people in both the city and county system, and I believe public education is one of the most important political issues of the day.  It’s more important than health care.  Just for the heck of it, here’s what I would champion if someone tasked me with any educational responsibilities.

• I’d figure out a way to increase the pay for the best teachers and get rid of the teachers that don’t do a good job.  Good teachers should make twice as much as they make now.  Bad teachers should not have a job, no matter what union they are in.
• I’d give local principals more authority.  Good people with proven track records should be trusted.  Bureaucracy just keeps smart people from making good decisions.
• I would combine the city and county school systems into one.  It’s crazy that in a city of 18,000 and a county of less than 100,000 that we have to have two school systems.  I’m told this would never happen, and it would probably be tougher than a national overhaul of health care or Social Security.  But hey, I’m ambitious.
• I would change the city’s outdated policy not to rent to churches on a regular basis.  Our county has already learned that partnering with churches is a good idea and systems all around us have embraced this movement.  But not the City of Cartersville.  By the way, we’ve got our own place now, so it’s not personal.

These thoughts don’t have much to do with church or Jesus, but hey…it’s my blog and I figure I can talk about whatever I want.