EDITORIAL GOLDBERG'S LEGACY ASSEMBLYWOMAN CONTINUES HER ASSAULT ON PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION.

STATE Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg won't give up her war against public education in California.

When the Hollywood Democrat first authored AB 2160, a bill that would have given teachers unions the power to negotiate over textbook and curriculum selection, she surely never expected Gov. Gray Davis to come out against it. After all, Davis has also been a reliable stooge of the California Teachers Association. He seemed like a natural ally.

But this being an election year, Davis knows better than to infuriate parents and school districts across the state. Besides, with the CTA turning down his request for a $1 million donation, he was in no rush to do the union any favors since he has so many other contributors to look after.

So after Davis promised to veto the bill, Goldberg pulled it back - sort of.

She has now issued a modified version of the legislation. In its new form, textbooks and curriculum are no longer part of contract negotiations, but unions and administrators would become equal members in an ``academic partnership.''

Under the revised bill, no curricular decisions could be made without the support of both sides, meaning that unelected and unaccountable unions would have what amounts to veto power over academic matters. And if any are unhappy with the treatment the districts give them, they can file a complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board.

Goldberg's revamped legislation is designed to be more palatable with the public, but it's only slightly less distasteful.

All that separates the old and new versions of AB 2160 is the means. The end is still the same: Seizing control of academic policy from democratically elected officials to unions whose job is getting better pay and improved benefits for teachers - not serving the students.

Goldberg tries to portray the legislation as merely a way to take advantage of teachers' expertise in the curriculum-formation process. But teachers and their unions are not one in the same. Besides, good school districts already rely on the advice of their teachers, and good teachers, more often than not, will find that their opinion is already highly valued within their district.

Bad schools aren't going to be helped by an additional layer of bureaucracy, let alone one dominated by union hacks.

The job of a union is to push for better salaries, benefits and work conditions - not to set education policy. That's the responsibility of local school boards, their elected members, parents and teachers.

It's certainly not the responsibility of Sacramento, or busybody legislators like Goldberg who in her years on the Los Angeles Unified school board did her best to discredit public education and perpetuate a culture of failure and deceit.