Our fall sports have begun and, as usual, our good coaches are focusing on fundamentals during these early weeks of practice and play, especially if they are trying to bounce back from some losing seasons. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about the fundamentals for fixing schools themselves.

If we really would get serious about a comeback season, we would . . .

1. Equip the best teachers to work in the worst places.
2. Provide the highest pay to the teachers working in the lowest grades.
3. Emphasize   teachers more than technology,
                         pre-Kindergarten more than college prep, and
                         smaller more than larger.
4. Encourage   fight over flight,
                         tutors over transfers,
                         school improvement over school choice, and
                         investment over vouchers.
5. And, for Pete’s sake, we would allow public schools to start classes as early as they see fit, even next Monday, not two weeks and a day later as state law mandates. Longer is better than shorter.

And sooner is better than later for putting these fundamentals into our game plan for education.