State schools Supt. Tom Luna has opened this morning's House Education Committee hearing with a pitch for his school reform plan. "We cannot just continue to cut and cut," he said. "We can't cut state revenues and leave local districts holding the bag with the same obligations that they had in the past. We have to change the system permanently."

Luna said the two bills, which target teacher contract rights and institute a teacher pay for performance plan, are part of "an awakening going on across the country." He told the committee that the current system "makes it almost impossible to reward great teachers and difficult to reward great teachers. If we're going to put students first, we must remove the barriers to both," Luna said.

Among the moves in SB 1108 Luna has highlighted: Eliminating the early retirement incentive program; eliminating tenure, or continuing contract rights, for all new teachers; limiting all negotiated teacher contracts to just one year and to just salaries and benefits; and basing 50 percent of evaluations, for teachers, principals and superintendents, on student achievement.