Bristol Schools: ten solutions

So, if we can't blame the local authority for all the ills of Bristol schools, what is the problem, and what is to be done?

1. Rather than abolishing the local authority, it should be given more power. Schools need to be accountable and democratic - everything that academies are not. Local authority officials need to be able to go into schools, find out for themselves whether the head teacher's doing a job, and give a kick up the backside if they're not. This is far from the case at the moment.

2. Governors - the representatives of parents and the community - should be given proper training and be paid for their work. Governors are to all intents and purposes the non-executive directors of a school, and need to be able to afford the time away from work to do the job properly. (Just like jury duty.) Equally, no one should be allowed to to be a governor without taking a mandatory one or two week course in how the education system works.

3. Teachers should be allowed to teach. Like any other job, you get good at teaching by doing it. Teachers need advice and support from proven, experienced teachers, not educational theorists or university educationalists. Unfortunately Bristol teachers are confronted with a different fad at the start of each school year. Forget the endless initiatives and focus on what works.

4. Spend the education budget on teachers and smaller class sizes rather than flash new buildings and endless technology. Most of us learnt to read and write before interactive whiteboards were invented.

5. Scrap national testing and targets.

6. Scrap the national curriculum while you're at it.

7. Scrap state faith schools.

8. Abolish the charitable status of private schools and put the money into the state sector.

9. All children should go to school in their local area. If people want to move to South Glos or North Somerset, then let 'em. But you shouldn't be allowed to live in Bristol and go to school elsewhere.

10. Broaden the catchment areas of all secondary schools and have a lottery for the popular ones. Otherwise there's no getting away from selection by house price.

There's a lot here that would have to be done by central government. But Bristol City Council could change catchment areas tomorrow, it's possible for new academies to be opposed locally, and the local authority could and should change its focus from educational novelty to supporting good teaching.

For the rest, that's what you get your vote for.