It should have been a no-brainer all along. If a teacher gets convicted of a felony and is serving time behind bars, the paycheck from public education ought to stop.

But that’s not what has been happening in Alabama if the teacher happens to have tenure.

According to the state’s tenure law, the teacher was still eligible to stay on the payroll. And now legislators want to rewrite the tenure to law to amend that practice.

The legislation stems from revelations about a Washington County teacher who has been receiving full pay and benefits despite the fact that she has been in a jail cell instead of a classroom since 2008. She is serving a 10-year sentence for enticing a 14-year-old boy for sex.

A bill is being pre-filed in the Alabama House of Representatives that would immediately stop pay to a public school teacher if convicted of a felony.

And it tops the 2010 agenda for Republicans when the legislative session begins Jan. 12.

We think lawmakers are right to put the bill on the fast track. Education funds are short enough without paying a teacher to serve a sentence while someone else does the job.