Rahm Emanuel gave an interview with the Chicago Tribune on Monday and spoke a lot about his plans for schools.

They were all pretty bad, including his idea about parent engagement:

The city could reward schools with greater parental involvement by giving them more money, he said. Chicago Public Schools could track how many parents pick up report cards or attend parent-teacher conferences, and those figures could be used in a school funding formula, Emanuel said.

Paying schools for those sort of minimal activities is only a slightly less-worse idea than paying parents directly. But it is rewarding the least “engaging” form of parent connection.

How about providing grants to schools who want to do programs that truly engage parents, instead?