A lively mayoral race in Los Angeles between Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel has sparked discussion of whether evaluations of public school teachers should be made public. You won’t be surprised to learn that the L.A. Unified School System opposes the idea. The mayoral candidates — who would have no power over the school system if elected — support it.

“I think it’s fair — absolutely,” said Garcetti, when asked if the evaluations should be made public during an hourlong debate at the Petersen Automotive Museum sponsored by KCRW and Zocalo Public Square. He added that it was important to have a variety of measures to evaluate and compare teachers and to use data to help teachers improve.

Greuel said “yes” in response to the same question, and gave Los Angeles Unified Supt. John Deasy credit for looking at evaluations at all levels of the school system, including principals.

Teachers are critical to a child’s education. Effective teachers open up the world to a child.  and should be compensated for their performance. Ineffective teachers limit a child’s world and should be removed from the classroom. But right now, parents don’t know who the real performers are. What an empowering moment it would be for parents to have the same information that principals do.