As our clueless state legislature continues its never-ending 2009 session, much of the Statehouse education debate centers on the same old fights.

The debate goes something like this: Should public education funding be increased by 1.7 percent? Or 1.9 percent? Or 2.1 percent?

It’s an important issue, no doubt. But wouldn’t it be nice if lawmakers also spent time discussing innovative ideas, ideas aimed at shaking up the way public education is conducted in Indiana? So far, they haven’t spent much time in such a discussion.

It was encouraging, then, to hear Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White last week step briefly away from the bitter budget debate to call for policy changes that could have a dramatic effect on the quality of city schools.

What does White want? Freedom from collective bargaining rules that give teacher unions far too much power over schools.

He wants to be able to do things most other employers can: Base layoff and salary decisions on performance and not seniority, and fire bad employees without going through a marathon legal process.

“If you are truly going to be fair to urban students, you have to provide them with the best teachers they can have,” White said. “If we compromise that, we’re compromising the education of those kids.”

Here’s an example of what White is talking about. IPS recently compiled a list of teachers who could be laid off because of budget problems. Because of seniority rules, the list was packed with many of the district’s finest and hardest-working educators.

“The first people to go are my youngest teachers,” White said. “Well, my youngest teachers are involved in some of the most unique programs we have.”

Of course, the powerful union stands in the way of weakening the contract provisions and state laws that get in White’s way. The union defends rules, for instance, that essentially prevent superintendents from giving bonuses to top teachers or paying exceptional teachers more than union wage charts mandate.

White talked about a man named Jeff Steinbronn who, a few years ago, made a midlife decision to become a teacher. He joined the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows program and is now a science teacher at Howe Community High School. In a short time, Steinbronn has energized Howe’s science program and many of its students, leading the school to the Academic Super Bowl championship.

“Why should he be making half of what a science teacher at the top of the (union pay) scale is making?” White asked. “He’s doing more. He’s not looking at the clock. He’s after school working with the kids. He’s not worried about the contract. He’s worried about getting his kids prepared for college.”

White didn’t bash veteran teachers. He insisted most are exceptional educators. But, he added, some are not. And each time a bad teacher is protected at the expense of a better one, IPS classrooms take a painful hit.