CHARLESTON, W. Va. – A Senate bill representing West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s vision for improving The Mountain State’s public education system is being blasted by a state teacher union leader as “the ugliest” piece of legislation of the past 30 years.

The 179-page Senate bill offers a host of education reforms, most of which are modest by comparison to what other states have done.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Tomblin wants to de-emphasize the role teacher seniority plays in the hiring process, allow Teach for America instructors into West Virginia’s neediest classrooms, provide all-day early education for 4-year-olds, and give district leaders more control over their school calendars.

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

The governor also has plans “for measuring whether high school juniors are ready either for college or a vocational-technical career” and designing their senior year to meet those goals, reports the Associated Press.

Most education reformers would agree those are worthy ideas, with the possible exception of all-day early education. But reform advocates would also argue that Tomblin’s proposals are far too weak to dramatically improve a public education system that has been deemed one of the nation’s worst.

Studies show that West Virginia students rank near the bottom in math, science and reading scores.

Despite the mild nature of the governor’s reform plan, West Virginia’s teacher unions were quick to denounce it.

“This is probably the ugliest bill I’ve seen in 30 years,” said Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, according to the Gazette.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee dismissed the reforms as “punitive actions aimed at teachers.”

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

One of those so-called “punitive” proposals illustrates how out-of-control West Virginia’s teacher unions have become.

Under Tomblin’s plan, school district leaders would have greater control over their school calendars.

Since none of the state’s 55 county school systems currently offers students a full 180-day school year, the governor wants to give school leaders some freedom to maximize instructional time. That includes more control over the number of days dedicated to professional development and parent-teacher conferences. Districts would even have the option of adopting year-round calendars, reports the AP.

But Hale and Lee both blasted that proposal, because it might lessen “collaboration time for teachers” and because it could “strip educators of paid holidays,” the AP reports.

That’s a perfect illustration of the out-of-whack priorities of union leaders in West Virginia.

While Tomblin deserves some criticism for offering a plan that only tinkers around the edges of West Virginia’s lousy education system, it’s obvious that the pro-labor union mentality is so prevalent among state residents that only the meekest, most commonsensical reforms stand any hope of passing.