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In California on Thursday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged legislators to embrace his ideas for sweeping education reforms that would significantly change the way the state educates its’ children – and possibly bring millions of dollars in federal grants.

The proposed reforms will be considered by a special session that is slated to end on October 5th, but already Schwarzenegger’s plans have met with harsh criticism from teachers unions.

The Governor’s primary goal for proposing the reforms is to make his state eligible for $4.35 billion in federal grants, but his ideas go well beyond the scope of what is needed for California to be considered for aid from the program which is called “Race to the Top” and the powerful teachers groups say that the reform plan is rushed and unnecessary

In the past few months the Obama administration has singled out California for criticism for its current ban on allowing test scores to be linked to teacher performance and for its failure to take a lead in education reform.

Under Schwarzenegger’s proposed reforms not only would school districts would be required to consider data from student testing when evaluating teachers but they would also be forced to significantly reconstitute of even close entire schools that performed badly on a consistent basis. In addition children with better grades stuck in poorly performing schools would be able to transfer out to a school of their choice.

In a bid to improve the worst of the state’s schools the reforms also calls for a merit pay system to be enacted, giving bonuses to particularly effective teachers and hopefully encouraging them to consider working at lower performing institutions.

Another key element of the plan is to abolish a cap that is currently in place in the state that limits the number of charter schools that can open in any given year.

Teachers unions in the state are likely to fight hard against the idea of  ending the ban on using test scores for teacher evaluation which they fought to get enacted in 2006. Union leaders have criticized the Governor for bowing to Federal demands.

Schwarzenegger’s efforts have not gone unnoticed on Capitol Hill. U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that the proposals were “courageous” and that they paved the way for California to be a role model in the overall reform of education in the US. “This is a very significant step that absolutely has national implications,” he said. “The eyes of the country are going to be on California.”