EDITORIAL : DEMOCRAT DICTATORSHIP; ASSEMBLY BILL TO IMPOSE UNION RULES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS WOULD DESTROY HOPES FOR EDUCATION REFORM.

JUST when legislative Democrats had bamboozled people into thinking they actually cared about educating our children, the party showed its true colors by launching a sneak attack on charter schools - the only reform that actually works.

Assembly Bill 842 would make charter schools the only public campuses in California required to have union contracts - an outrageous abuse of power that teachers and administrators at these schools say would destroy the collaborative and creative environment they have worked so hard to achieve.

Bye-bye reform.

Hello special interests.

Written by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, the measure zoomed through the Assembly Education Committee Wednesday like Serbian troops through a Kosovo village. And, sadly, it was strongly supported by Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Glendale, who still must think United Teachers Los Angeles is paying his salary.

Can Democrats spell D-U-M-B or D-O-O-M?

What's tragic about this stealth piece of legislation is that the committee, acting with virtually no notice to charter school officials, approved it on the same day that the top financial policy maker for the Western United States warned that the earning gap between skilled and unskilled labor will continue to broaden without a better educated work force.

Charter schools were cut loose and allowed to try innovative approaches to education, such as hiring away good teachers, giving them the tools and support they need to succeed in the classroom, and rewarding them with merit pay when they succeed.

And who is being helped by charter schools? In the vast majority of cases, minority children and children from low-income families - children who need and deserve a chance to gain the skills to participate in the well-paid, high-tech future.

Wildman argued that the bill isn't about ``good or bad,'' proving only that he doesn't know the difference.

``This is about whether teachers (in charter schools) should be granted the same rights as teachers in other public schools,'' he said.

Hogwash! This is about punishing innocent children.

If working conditions were so horrible in charter schools that teachers needed protection through state-mandated bargaining, why would those same teachers risk their pensions to stay at charter schools?

Wildman is dead wrong on this one.

This measure absolutely is about imposing bad law on good schools that are making real gains in involving parents in the process, in keeping kids in schools, in creating an atmosphere that inspires learning.

If this measure is about protecting teachers, why are teachers fighting so hard against it?

There are two independent charter schools in the San Fernando Valley: Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, run by Yvonne Chan, and Fenton Avenue School in Lakeview Terrace, run by Joe Lucente and Irene Sumida. Both schools are doing a great job in creating an exciting learning environment and have won wide praise.

Administrators and faculty at these schools regard this legislation as a direct attack on their efforts to provide quality education for children.

Clearly, there is a strong sector of the Democratic Party that doesn't care a whit about children.

Gov. Gray Davis and the Democratic leadership must repudiate AB 842 and the mentality it represents and take dramatic steps to free up teachers and administrators from the strangling mediocrity of union-only rules.

Help give kids a fighting chance by calling Wildman's office at [phone] in Glendale or faxing that office at [phone] - or by calling his Sacramento office at [phone] - and telling him this bill stinks.