A Teachers' Strike in Paradise

This great ReasonTV clip helps expose some of the many problems with government-run education. What particularly stood out to me was at the 2:53 mark, when one official addresses the "first hired, last fired" rule which uses seniority as the deciding factor in teacher layoffs. She says:

If we didn't have the seniority rule then I guess the big question is how do you objectively decide? What do you base it on? How do you decide who is the first person to go? And believe me, I'm not the one who could come up with that answer.

Here's a thought: thousands of organizations are forced to lay off employees all of the time, the majority of which use criteria other than seniority. They try to hold on to their best employees while letting go of those who are deemed of least marginal value. The difference is that these organizations are privately-run and, unlike a school district, do not have to answer to political masters or (in most instances) deal with a union.

The factors which govern teaching in a government-run school, however, are so stilted that it produces a system where no better method can be found to lay teachers off than by seniority. Just another reason why it's time to end government-run schools.