Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman is floating a few ideas for how to improve teacher quality. He says fewer third year teachers should be granted tenure…WBEZ-FM

I understand the need for tenure at colleges and universities where it serves as bulwark for intellectual freedom. Academics should be free to pursue whatever scholarly inquiries and lines of research they feel is valid without fear that controversy will leave them out of a job.

But what’s the justification for giving tenure — lifetime job security — to public school teachers?

I’m sure it makes the field of teaching more attractive and that teachers like it. But what’s in it for parents and taxpayers? Most government agencies and virtually every private business (except private colleges and universities) get by fine without giving people lifetime job security after just a few years on the job.

Tenure advocates, what am I missing here?