ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A tough, new teacher evaluation system being implemented by state officials has New Mexico’s education establishment scrambling for ways to overturn it.

The fight against accountability is being led by the Albuquerque Teachers Federation – the largest teachers union in the state – along with three Democratic state lawmakers, two of whom are planning gubernatorial runs for 2014, the Associated Press reports.

That coalition is asking the state Court of Appeals to throw out the new evaluation plan on the grounds that it violates a pair of state laws. Essentially, the union-led coalition is angry that charter schools can apply for a waiver from the teacher evaluation process, which bases 50 percent of an educator’s job review on students’ standardized test scores, and  the other half on classroom observations.

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They say the law – as defined under New Mexico’s School Personnel Act – requires a “uniform statewide standard for evaluation” of teachers.

ABQJournal.com reports charter schools might be able to request a waiver from the teacher evaluation plan, because of how the law defines a school district. Regardless, no charter school has applied for a waiver thus far.

A state District Court judge upheld the new teacher evaluation plan late last month, which is why the coalition is now pinning its hopes on an appeal to the state Court of Appeals. It’s unclear if the court will hear the coalition’s appeal, or when a potential verdict would be rendered.

We might actually agree with the union if its argument was simply that all of New Mexico’s 22,000 teachers should be evaluated the same way. We believe all educators should be judged by how well their students are learning the subject material.

However, the union isn’t looking for equality among educators. It’s only using that argument to get the entire evaluation system thrown out. Union leaders don’t want their members to be held accountable for how much (or how little) their students are learning. That’s inexcusable, considering that New Mexico consistently rates near the bottom in terms of student achievement, according to The New York Times.

When New Mexico union leaders are confronted with that reality, they try to turn the conversation to how poverty prevents students from reaching their potential in the classroom.

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But that’s just another smokescreen. There are numerous charter schools throughout the nation that are doing a remarkable job of reaching low-income students. Those schools succeed because they can implement a variety of policies – such as longer school days and school years – without first going hat-in-hand to a teachers union for permission.

The union and the members of the education establishment are using every lever at their disposal to derail the new teacher evaluation plan.

Thankfully for New Mexico’s families, Gov. Susana Martinez and the state’s top education official, Hanna Skandera, are charging ahead with their plans to finally hold educators accountable for their job performance.

The courts have upheld their efforts so far, though the unions may be one friendly judge away from stopping this bold new evaluation plan dead in its tracks.