DENVER – Improving teacher quality in Colorado isn’t a partisan issue.

But it is a union issue.

Colorado lawmakers passed reforms known as the Great Teachers and Leaders Law in 2010, improving the way teachers are hired, supported, rewarded and replaced, former Colorado Governors Bill Owens and Bill Ritter explained in a recent editorial for the Colorado Springs Gazette.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

“Now, Colorado’s teachers are held to the same standards of performance as those in other respected professions,” the former state leaders wrote. “By putting strict accountability measures in place, giving teachers and educational leaders the power to choose where their skills are most needed and rewarding teachers for excellence in the work place, (the new law) proved to be an effective tool for real education reform.”

The editorial by Owens, a Republican, and Ritter, a Democrat, illustrates that the education reforms enjoy bipartisan support. When passed, the law was championed by “a broad coalition that included grass-roots organizations, business interests and education and civic leaders,” they wrote.

Of course, with real education reform comes a lawsuit from the state teachers union. That’s what typically happens in most states that pass legislation that holds education professionals accountable for their work. Colorado is no exception.

The Colorado Education Association is challenging the legality of the state’s important reforms despite the bipartisan coalition and overwhelming public support for the law.

“A recent poll showed 91 percent of voters agreed that consistently ineffective teachers should not be granted a job and that change to the tenure system is necessary to ensure we have only our best teachers in the classroom,” according to Owens and Ritter.

“Furthermore, 71 percent strongly agree that teacher tenure should not be given automatically simply based on years on the job, but rather it should be earned by demonstrating effectiveness, just as in other professions,” the governors wrote.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Owens and Ritter explain that one of the most important aspects of the new law – the ability of principals to staff their schools with teachers they believe will work best – is what the CEA is targeting in the courts.

“The teachers’ union feels that tenured members have the ‘right’ to be automatically placed in a school, regardless of their effectiveness or the needs of the school,” the governors wrote. “This posture clearly puts the priorities of a few poorly performing adults above the needs of children.”

That’s not especially surprising, considering that most of the teachers unions’ priorities directly conflict with the desperate needs of students and taxpayers.

“Here, again, the public overwhelmingly sides with current state law: 94 percent of Coloradans agree that principals should be able to hire the teachers who will best meet the needs of their schools’ students. … Most Colorado voters strongly agree that the Great Teachers and Leaders Law is working and that here in Colorado, we put children first.

“Why would we ever go back?”