Call it kismet. I’d just finished reading about Montana superintendents’ frantic efforts to hire public schoolteachers before the school year begins when an op-ed from another newspaper appeared on my screen. In it, two Republican legislators rejoiced over the “new dawn” their recent legislation created, the “opportunity” for Montana kids to leave public schools and attend private ones.

But kismet is a positive happenstance.

As fiscal and public policy, there’s nothing good about the intertwining of these two events. Public schools can’t find teachers for one resounding reason: Our starting salaries are the nation’s lowest, $5,144 – $13,687 lower than our surrounding states’.