June 24, 2010, will be a big day in Atmore, Al.  That is when the Escambia County Board of Education is scheduled to select a new principal for the troubled Escambia County High School. Their choice will replace Joseph Dean, who resigned Monday after only three working days. Dean, who was hired last month, was the school’s ninth principal in 14 years.

Last year, ECHS narrowly avoided entering its fourth year of school of improvement status, which would have made it eligible for a takeover by the Alabama State Department of Education. It did so by meeting its No Child Left Behind goals for the first time since the law was enacted in 2002. It still is not in the clear, though.

These events are worth mentioning because they speak to a larger issue in the state, which has been made politically relevant by the gubernatorial campaign. I use Escambia County High School’s story to illustrate this statewide challenge because I am familiar with it. I graduated from ECHS in 2009.

There are, however, many other schools in Alabama plagued by constant instability and underperformance. They all suffer from the same sicknesses: union self-interests, murky accountability systems and failed leadership at the state and local levels.

How can these deficiencies be corrected?

One option, which has received considerable public attention and been rejected by the union controlled legislature in Montgomery, is charter schools.

There are other potential solutions for addressing the problems listed above, but charter schools are the only option that would simultaneously address all three.

Charter schools are public schools allowed to operate outside of the standard regulatory and administrative framework in return for pledging to achieve certain performance benchmarks. They still receive public funding and do not charge tuition.

However, nonprofit groups not affiliated with or supervised by local public school boards manage charter schools.  These organizations typically consist of parents, teachers, universities, corporations, community organizations, or other governmental entities.

If the state were allowed to take over perennially mismanaged and underperforming schools like ECHS and hand them over to local groups concerned about the state of education in their communities, incompetent school boards and central office bureaucracies would finally lose their grip on public schools. Instead, they would be required to either manage their schools more effectively or surrender authority to third party groups.

Those third party groups would be bound by contract to offer a rigorous education for their students, ensure high graduation rates, and meet benchmarks on state tests. If they failed, new groups would be contracted. Clear lines of accountability would be established.

Organizations running charter schools would be free to hire and fire teachers at will. They could thus avoid cumbersome tenure requirements that often allow hapless teachers to sit in their classrooms until retirement.

A comprehensive charter school law would drastically alter the dynamic of Alabama’s public education system.

Already, places like New York City are employing charter schools to circumvent the constraints of the traditional public education system and the unions that dominate it. In New Orleans, a majority of students attend charter schools, as the city has relied on outside organizations to help rebuild its public education system in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Imagine if hundreds of floundering schools in the Black Belt and other struggling regions could be liberated in a similar fashion. Imagine if universities across the state could open their own charter schools and allow their brightest students and professors to play a role in turning those schools around.

Yet Alabama continues to prohibit charter schools. This despite the fact that the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program offers hundreds of millions of dollars to states proposing ambitious education reform plans, with an emphasis on charter schools.

Why?

Because the Alabama Education Association and its boss, Paul Hubbard, vehemently oppose reforms that could loosen their grip on education and be used to hold members of the union accountable.

As a result, schools like my alma mater will march on slowly into the abysses of educational failure. Thousands of students will fall through the cracks. Ultimately, the potential for a bright future will elude Alabama. Tray Smith is the opinions editor of the Crimson White.