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Know Your Role · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: My writing often reflects my influences. Jefferson Adams Madison. The
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  Speaker 1: Federalist papers history can be a road map. It lets
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  Speaker 1: us move forward without paying twice for the same hard lessons.
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  Speaker 1: But today's commentary borrows from a more modern figure, Dwayne
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  Speaker 1: the Rock Johnson. One of his catchphrases is simple, know
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  Speaker 1: your role in plain English. Understand where your authority begins
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  Speaker 1: and ends. That's it. Vice lawmakers might consider as they
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  Speaker 1: debate Senate Bill six ninety four, a bill that removes
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  Speaker 1: the county residence requirement for a county superintendent of schools.
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  Speaker 1: If you didn't realize such a rule existed, you're not alone,
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  Speaker 1: and it raises a practical question. Do parents care more
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  Speaker 1: about where a superintendent sleeps at night or whether that
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  Speaker 1: superintendent is qualified and effective? Residency mandates are holdovers from
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  Speaker 1: a protectionist era bill to keep outsiders out. But we
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  Speaker 1: don't live in that world world anymore. Business, education, and
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  Speaker 1: even government increasingly draw talent from wherever it exists. Remote
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  Speaker 1: work is normal. Recruiting broadly globally even is smart. West
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  Speaker 1: Virginia says it wants better educational outcomes and strong leadership.
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  Speaker 1: If the best candidate lives in a few counties over
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  Speaker 1: or even across the state line. Why shrink the pool?
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  Speaker 1: There's little downside and giving local boards flexibility and hiring.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, local control means trusting those boards to hire
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  Speaker 1: the best person period, instead of following an outdated law
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  Speaker 1: that may exclude the best person from getting the job.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe the bigger question for lawmakers is this is
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  Speaker 1: good policy always about adding rules or sometimes about removing them.
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  Speaker 1: Limited government isn't built by piling on mandates. Sometimes the
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  Speaker 1: most conservative reform is restraint. In this case, that means
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  Speaker 1: letting local school boards decide without telling them where they're
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  Speaker 1: superintendent has to live.