Elkins' heart seems to be in the right place. I would like to respond to some of his points and try to convince him that taking control of public schools away from local school boards would be a good thing. Elkins says that people who have experience with failing schools will be able to improve them more easily than state government officials. But the state government can bring in talented personnel who have either turned around failing schoo ls or who have at least had experience in schools that are not failing, so that they know what characterizes a successful school. Elkins is skeptical that good teachers leave troubled school districts in our present system.
Teachers are real people and they have many different motivations, altruism being but one.
Money is a motivator, although when a teacher leaves a poorer district for a more wealthy one, money is generally much less of a factor than location and working conditions. Th ere are ways to justify leaving to yourself without feeling like a shameful deserter. That is what I did. No, I do not think policemen and real estate agents are idiots. But I do think that the quantity and quality of academic training of the people running the schools will have an effect on the education the children will receive.