That's not democracy. That's a farce. Parents and voters are sending the unequivocal message that local school boards do not contribute to their children's education. We must not waste any time. Our schools are failing hundreds of thousands of students, and it's time for a solution.
City government needs to take full responsibility now.
We need the courage to make massive reforms. We need to have the courage to take on union opposition and eliminate principal tenure. Principals of chronically under-performing schools have no right to continue failing their students. The only way for their schools to turn around, and for the school system as a whole to turn around, is to bring in new principals. And we also need the flexibility to reward good principals and teachers by giving them merit pay.