On Wednesday, Gov. Paul LePage diagrammed his remedial “ABC” plan to improve schools.

The plan, as envisioned, will:

A) Improve Accountability.

B) Borrow Best practices from other states.

C) Expand school Choice.

If we had an opportunity for multiple choice, we’d select and completely support A and B, but we’d hesitate on C.

Improving accountability is not a new idea and has been tough to achieve. Unions — in their determination to protect jobs — have often stood in the way of mandated measures of teacher performance or implementing basic accountability practices in our schools.

Most teachers are highly motivated and want to do a good job but, as in any profession, there are some bad teachers in our classrooms who are permitted to remain at work. Or, worse, bad teachers can be encouraged to leave one district and simply float into another, which just passes problem teachers around.

That’s not what one might consider best practices.

Improving teacher accountability is essential to improving education.

In presenting “ABC,” LePage and Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen said they intend to look at what other states are doing and what all schools in Maine are doing; and to select the best programs that deal with teaching, learning and academic achievement and work toward implementing these programs and ideals across the state.

It’s an idea Bowen said is borrowed from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, and one they hope to implement quickly.

Good.

The third prong of LePage’s plan is to expand school choice by allowing charter schools in Maine, expanding on the pilot program already in place for a limited number of schools to open.

While we would like to think charter schools are the solution to all of Maine’s education problems, the research available on charter school outcomes is mixed, especially in nonurban areas — which would be most of Maine.

The “model” charter school we think of is the type we see on national news programs, where classrooms in inner-city neighborhoods are opened to exceptionally impoverished children who must wear uniforms, who attend school for more hours than the standard public school student and who commit to a longer school year.

Teachers are held accountable for performance, and disciplined behavior rules. Most important, in these schools, parents are on board with this boot-camp-style education reform.

And, when all this comes together, the schools get better results. Of course they do. The children enrolled in these schools are focused on the education as if it was their job. They’re not at home watching video games and TV for the better part of the afternoon, and their parents are engaged in homework assignments and school projects, and in communication with teachers.

It would be fair to say some, maybe even half, of our education problems are in our schools. The rest of the problems are with poorly motivated students whose parents are not involved in their education.

The emphasis parents place on education at home, whether that’s setting the expectation that children go to college or allowing youngsters to stay up watching “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” is a distinction of lasting importance.

Education works for families that are highly motivated.

If parents are committed to their child getting a good education, that child is going to learn well in public school, private school or a charter school.

If parents do not demonstrate that commitment, arguing instead for fewer homework assignments or allowing more video games at home, education fails.

And, when 38 percent of Maine children are living in single-parent homes, how much educational support can one parent give to multiple children, unless children and parents alike are very highly motivated?

We understand that LePage and Bowen are working hard to improve Maine’s public school system, and we support that work. If we get as tough on families and students as we are on teachers and unions, success is within our reach.

Perhaps, the ABC plan ought to include a “P” for parents. It’s not as neat an acronym, but without parents as committed as teachers, our children will fail.

jmeyer@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.

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