Kevin Carey writes: In the course of composing what sounds like the winning entry in a Thomas Friedman column parody contest, Thomas Friedman wrote the following in his new column:”One of the smartest stimulus moves we could make would be to eliminate federal income taxes on all public schoolteachers so more talented people would choose these careers.
Is Thomas Friedman’s idea as bad as Kevin Carey makes it out to be? That the program’s price tag should require a more thoughtful approach to the matter of teacher recruitment? That such a poorly developed idea should not occupy the NYTimes? Maybe. I get the argument that $20 billion could be better spent, but I also think that the it may not be fair to think of this as a zero sum game. Why not provide a tax incentive in addition to creating regional teacher/leader/ education ideas incubator or something of the sort. I find it hard to believe that the lost tax revenue could not be offset though other tax increases (soda tax – or any product loaded in corn syrup tax, perhaps). If that can be done then the opportunity costs is no longer an obstacle and we do not have to shoot down the mediocre ideas in favor of the perfect. Let’s get multiple ideas running at the same time and as long as education is getting national attention and we are making progress then all ideas are fine with me.
