“In my view, parental choice as it is being talked about now is an elitist wolf wrapped in egalitarian sheepskin.”
—Lewis Finch, superintendent of the Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools in Minnesota
“Athletes have been working hard to get to the major-league level since they were little kids. For that, they deserve the big money ... Teachers just wake up every morning and ... sit in the classroom.”
—Chicago Cubs center fielder Jerome Walton, on why baseball players make so much more money than schoolteachers
“I left teaching because I got tired of being poor so that people who are unwilling to pay enough taxes to give me a salary they would expect for themselves could get a good education for their children. And yet, I am sad about my decision. On my bookshelf, I have a bouquet of dried roses—a gift from my freshmen when I left. I treasure them, but the price of that gift is an empty savings account. I had to choose ... between being a teacher and a productive taxpayer.”
—Marcella Spruce, a former teacher, in a commentary in The New York Times
“I instructed a [school] board to fire a local superintendent who spent $10,000 in special-education funds to decorate her office. Advocates of the status quo suggested that I overstepped my powers. I haven’t ... I’ve challenged the power of the special interests to block reform. I am an advocate of decentralization, but I believe ... we must correct, not protect the flaws in our system.”
—Joseph Fernandez, chancellor of the New York City Public Schools
