Public school funding challenges communities across the nation. My hometown of Bozeman, Montana, is no exception. Our community highly values education and understands good schools are a key ingredient for social and economic progress.

Like many others, our school board is deciding how to trim its budget in reaction to reduced state funding. The school board has called a series of public meetings to seek advice.

Many suggested that the immediate solution lies in electing the “right” folks to our legislature (i.e., those who will increase the state’s support for K-12 education). But this answer is inconclusive and highly uncertain. We’ll fail our kids if we don’t do better.

At the meeting I attended, two concerns stood out. First, how to keep our most promising teachers from leaving Montana for better paying jobs, and second, can we create privately funded foundations to support public schools?

We’ll increase the chances of success if we consider fundamental institutional reforms. This will not be easy. Powerful special interests have high stakes in maintaining the status quo. Are our politicians sufficiently courageous to challenge them?

My first job out of college was teaching seventh and eighth grades at an independent school. My starting salary was substantially lower than my public school peers. In general, independent-school salaries are much lower than those at public schools. So why did my school have a healthy waiting list of folks interested in teaching there?

Part of the answer lies in understanding that public schools are political bureaucracies. And these bureaucracies punish innovation while rewarding obedience. This repels many of the best teachers. They have other opportunities and often leave teaching to take them. Low pay is only partly responsible for their exit. Are there solutions? Many. Here are two.

First. Pay the best teachers more. The public schools are one of the last institutions to resist merit pay. Teacher salaries are based on a rigid formula of years in service and numbers of continuing education credits. Uniform pay scales neglect excellence. Smart, motivated teachers understand this and find it demoralizing.

Second. Experiment with alternative teacher certification. Talented adults (e.g., retired scientists and engineers) often want to teach. However, with few exceptions, current law requires public school teachers to be certified by colleges of education. These programs are notorious for turning out teachers well versed in pedagogic theory, but with little actual training in their specific subject areas.

What about equity? Montana is fundamentally two states. The fast-growing western counties are economically and culturally linked with major metropolitan areas, especially those of the Pacific Northwest. In contrast, the eastern two-thirds of the state is part of the high desert plains extending east to the 98th meridian. It has far fewer people today than during World War I.

Aided by modern technology (e.g., high-speed Internet and FedEx), towns such as Bozeman are magnets for folks with high human capital. Bozeman is one of the few vibrant communities in an otherwise poor, rural state. We have the inclination and the means to raise more money for education than many other communities. Is this fair? Yes. Here’s why.

Many states (e.g., Kentucky and Vermont) have mandated equal funding for education, usually through a tax that is “equally” distributed across the state. Communities are prohibited from spending above this amount. Is it fair to keep Bozeman kids from competing with their peers in Boston and Austin?

To assure “equality” we must forbid parents from sending their children to math tutors. Further, logic demands that sports and soaps, not literature and current events, are the only permissible dinner table conversations. No Feasible Way.

The economist Thomas Sowell wrote: “Confusion plagues discussions of equality and inequality. It is a confusion between the vagaries of fate and the sins of man.” State intervention to achieve equal outcomes is futile. It would require a level of intrusion antithetical to American culture. And parents will rebel.

Keeping parents from providing a quality education for their children cheats them of opportunities to reach their potential. It condemns the state to economic stagnation. Addressing these challenges requires creative thinking and courage. But surely our kids are worth the effort.