Money for inspectors, not teachers

Two from today's Strib illustrate a problem with priorities: Minneapolis gets real 'picky' about housing codes

and

Minneapolis terminates 305 teachers. So we have the funds for an inspector to give you a tag if your grass is too high, but again are annually laying off (and rehiring) teachers.

A good teacher would presumably be able to get a better deal than getting laid off each summer with no guarantee of rehire the following year, so we drive our best young teachers (without the seniority) out by policies like this (and my libertarian friends would say the probelm is we have public school in general, which may be true but even if public schools are second best to a free market in private schools, it doesn't mean we should manage them badly). If they are laid off because they are not competent, then they shouldn't be recalled under any circumstance, but this seems like an inability to manage staffing or anticipate demographics.