The arduous journey of AB934 — a bill to reform the teacher tenure process in California — is a perfect example of how little we can rely on this state Legislature to reform public education.

In early June, when we first editorialized on AB934, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, it was a comprehensive reform bill that would have required all school districts to institute a transparent — and fair — system for dismissing ineffective teachers.

It would have lengthened the tenure process from just 18 months to three years. It would have required that districts place teachers who had gotten unsatisfactory evaluations in a year of a peer-reviewed training and coaching system that’s been proved to work. And it would’ve created a new system for laying off teachers based, in part, on their evaluations — not just seniority.

In short, AB934 would have given teachers the professional development they want and deserve, administrators the tools they need to build a successful school, and parents the confidence that their school had the quality teachers they expect.

It was a very good, very balanced bill.

Regrettably, it had no chance of passing even out of committee in its original form.

Thanks to the determined efforts of the teachers unions, Bonilla was struggling to get the votes to move her bill past the state Senate education committee.

“The choice I had to make was leaving another legislative session with no reform,” Bonilla said. “My bill was going to die. We were not going to have anything.”

So Bonilla reluctantly accepted compromises that weakened her bill. Many of its most important provisions, once mandatory, are now only possible.

Instead of mandating a specific — and clear — dismissal process, AB934 will now allow local administrators to negotiate an alternative with their local teachers unions. It rolls back the new teacher layoff process.

The extended timeline of three years for tenure remains in the bill — for now.

Even with all of these concessions, the teachers unions are still against the bill.

The changes to AB934 are disappointing, but it’s still worth fighting to pass this bill. Although many school districts may choose not to negotiate a new dismissal process with their local unions, some will. When they’re successful, and the sky over public education doesn’t fall, it will be easier for reform advocates to return to the state Legislature with a stronger bill.

Because if the state Legislature doesn’t act on teacher reform, the courts will. Reform advocates are pushing strongly for the California Supreme Court to take up Vergara vs. State of California, the legal challenge to California’s teacher tenure and seniority laws.

What you can do: Urge your elected representatives to pass AB934 as a starting point toward reform of overly rigid tenure and seniority laws. You can find your representatives name and contact information by typing in your address at http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.