Education has always been the great closer of gaps. It's been doing the job for years. As I wrote some years ago, the path from good intentions to good education is paved with difficult choices and hard cash. The problem is that we have ducked the difficult choices and held onto the cash. We have chosen to criticize, audit, howl for reform, change management, castigate, carp and opt for the easy solution.
Tax cuts are more popular that teachers' payraises.
No wonder that school superintendents' salaries have gotten bigger as beleaguered school districts try to find someone willing to take on a thankless job with too big a task and too small a budget. We get what we pay for. Houses, cars, c.d. So do private schools and private universities. This article was published in the Austin American-Statesman on Sept. 26, 1999.