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Ineffective substitute teaching is a problem that means thousands of hours of lost learning for America's students. It cannot be dismissed with a sigh and 'Just wait for the teacher to come back on Monday.'

We should be firing bad teachers.

I don't believe in firing professors. They have academic freedom.

Due process policies such as tenure are put in place to protect good teachers from being fired without cause. They aren't there to protect 'bad' teachers.

I am not going to make any commitments to the teachers union to do anything until they do something that's other than in their own self- interest. And everything they have done so far is in their self-interests, and that's it.

There are a couple of teachers I have had without whose influence I would not be as happy with who I am.

We need to reward the 'thankless job' of substitute teaching with better pay and chances for permanent positions. I look forward to the day when no student comes home saying, 'I didn't learn much today... we had a sub.'

When I was 14 years old, I went on location to film 'Mrs. Doubtfire' for five months, and my high school was not happy. My job meant an increased workload for teachers, and they were not equipped to handle a 'non-traditional' student. So, during filming, they kicked me out.

I'm committed to working with teachers.