John McCollister, the Special Magistrate, felt that the explanation offered by representatives of the Board that the District "actually saved money through these hirings [of new administrators], was quite satisfactory.” McCollister reminds me of the French Taunting of Arthur in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. Our message to the world's schools of education: don't teach in Florida; if you love the sun and lack of snow, administrate. Read today's New York Times: The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School believes that teacher quality is the most important factor in achieving educational equity for low income students. Spurred by this belief, TEP reallocates its public funds by making an unprecedented investment in attracting and retaining great teachers. How? First, all TEP teachers earn a $125,000 salary, plus an annual bonus of up to $25,000. The Principal will earn only $90,000. "The school’s creator and first principal, Zeke M. Vanderhoek, contends that high salaries will lure the best teachers. He says he wants to put into practice the conclusion reached by a growing body of research: that teacher quality — not star principals, laptop computers or abundant electives — is the crucial ingredient for success. “I would much rather put a phenomenal, great teacher in a field with 30 kids and nothing else than take the mediocre teacher and give them half the number of students and give them all the technology in the world,” said Mr. Vanderhoek, 31, a Yale graduate and former middle school teacher who built a test preparation company that pays its tutors far more than the competition." You think we are powerless, that our hands are tied, that the only thing we can do is put this on the backs of teachers and students? Oh, no. I suggest a modified tax revolt. Threaten Florida legislators with loss of Collier County tax contributions if they do not loosen the purse strings on the "capital funds" accounts and allow us to put a substantial amount of that money into the "operating funds" accounts. Financial clout? If we kept all our locally-generated school taxes for local expenses, we would need nothing from the Florida State Department of Education. Apportioning our taxes to poor school districts around Florida for thirty years has brought Collier County Public Schools to this pass. Even Superintendent Thompson has spoken to this problem as the source and solution of our woes. We do have the financial and political clout to insist that Tallahassee does what we need to have done. Don't use the knife on us local folks. Use it on Tallahassee and Washington. Throw out the NCLB and its state tests (FCAT) with its inventor, Mr. Bush. It was never funded and Congress has not renewed it this year. Only 318 days to go (unless he attacks Iran and declares martial law).