Heartland‘s Joy Pullman speaks with James Guthrie, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Nevada Department of Education.

My mother always told me to get good grades and become a doctor or a lawyer, but she never mentioned teaching.  Perhaps teaching should belong in that upper echelon of high-paying jobs as well.  If we want the best and brightest teaching our children, we have to compensate them.   If we don’t, they’ll find another profession.

Nevada’s  education system is on a downward spiral, says former state Superintendent James Guthrie. He recommends one dramatic change: Paying top teachers $200,000 per year.  Dr. Guthrie joins the podcast to discuss his proposal, which he  published recently in a Nevada Policy Research Institute paper. We talk about why Nevada has so many rotten teachers, how to pay the best a lot more without  increasing the budget, and how anti-elitism is a barrier to getting kids a good education.