Reform first, then more money to public education

In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Times published an excellent examination of California public education's inability to fire bad teachers. As a result, the various school systems don't perform as well as they should.

Administrators in the Clark County school system over the years have told me that Nevada shares the same problem. Finding and keeping good teachers is one thing, but firing bad teachers is just as important (and virtually impossible).

Yet, in the ongoing debate over public education quality and the increasing amount of dollars the state pours into the system, no one is making a pitch for reform of the Nevada public education system by holding administrators accountable for effectively weeding the teacher garden. If the experience in California is applicable to Nevada (and I bet it is) we ought to start there.