Bribing Lancaster ISD teachers to do their job?

Lancaster ISD Superintendent Larry Lewis wants to give Cadillac CTS cars to teachers who have 99 percent attendance rates. Boy, this could open a can of worms, and it leads me to several thoughts.

First, if you already have a budget reserve of less than $1 million, if this costs more than the money you expect to save on substitutes, you’re playing with fiscal fire.

Second, if your teachers are averaging 10 days missing per year, what’s that say about either the quality of teachers you’re recruiting, or the level of dissatisfaction they have with their current jobs? I know that many teachers spend part of their summer vacation pursuing a graduate degree, and part of things like Christmas break is spent grading student papers and tests, but, nonetheless, teachers already get more vacation time — by far — than the average American worker. And they’re cutting classes 10 days a year?

Third, speaking of cutting classes — now you have to start wondering just how much of an influence teachers are on truancy rates. I mean, students have to figure that if it’s OK for a teacher to miss 10 days a year, why not them, right?