North Carolina educators are about as dry as Arizona in July when it comes to new ideas and methods to improve student performance. An oasis in this intellectual desert continues to be Peter Gorman, superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Gorman is championing two innovations aimed squarely at lifting the academic achievement of two underperforming groups: Hispanic children who can't speak English, and kids who are poor.

To reach the Hispanic kids, Gorman has proposed establishing a K-8 magnet school, at which the majority of the curriculum would be taught in Spanish. Immigration-phobes decry the idea, citing it as evidence of Hispanics' reluctance to give up their native language and culture. That's a reasonable conclusion, given that CMS is using that line to sell the proposal.

Spokesperson Nora Carr told the conservative outlet WorldNetDaily that an existing K-5 Spanish immersion program is popular among English-speaking Hispanics who want their children to retain and sharpen their Spanish.

OK, fine. But a Spanish academy would also address a significant problem -- the drag on learning for English-speaking students that's imposed by the extra instruction required for their Spanish-speaking classmates.

For decades, educators have used English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to teach Spanish-speaking students. I've observed ESL efforts in rural North Carolina classrooms. The dedication of some instructors is inspiring, but even they admit that these programs drain resources from other students. By centralizing Spanish instruction at a single institution, Gorman would solve that problem, freeing up teacher time and assets at traditional CMS schools.

More important, Gorman's academy would correctly put subject mastery ahead of English fluency for Spanish-speaking students. The academic record of ESL is mixed at best. That's understandable. Learning math, science, reading, social studies and a foreign language simultaneously can challenge academically gifted students. Imagine the difficulty for Spanish-speakers from educationally deprived backgrounds. Instructing students in their native language can't help but improve their academic performance.

Although Gorman's language academy would directly benefit both Spanish- and English-speaking kids, using cultural preservation to justify its implementation is the real genius behind the CMS proposal. Taking Spanish-speaking kids out of mainstream classrooms for their own educational benefit won't fly among Hispanic activists who bristle at thoughts of segregation. However, pushing segregation for cultural preservation is socially acceptable. Look at the success of those who simultaneously advocate affirmative action in higher education and the need to maintain historically black colleges.

Gorman's second common sense innovation pairs the district's best teachers with academically challenged kids. He took a bite at this apple once before by offering selected teachers hefty bonuses to work in tough, predominately inner-city schools, and if that didn't work, unilaterally assigning them to those schools. The CMS school board quickly shot it down.

This time around, Gorman is using principals as innovators. Seven over-achieving principals were offered jobs at low-performing, high-poverty schools. Every one accepted the challenge, along with a 10 percent bump in pay. Gorman has also given the principals the ability to bring along five top-performing teachers and reward them with up to $20,000 in bonuses over three years.

Thus far support has been cautious among the 960 teachers eligible for the bonuses and transfers. Still, the reception is far better than it was to Gorman's initial threat to assign teachers to struggling schools if they didn't volunteer. Gorman learned from that experience by listening to seasoned, National Board Certified teachers who told him that for many talented educators, working for a good principal often trumps financial incentives alone.

Keep in mind that Gorman is offering these two initiatives at the same time he's considering budget cutbacks. Too many superintendents use budget woes to stifle innovation. Unlike the vast majority of educators who only talk about providing every child with a quality education, Gorman actually means it. He isn't going to let immigration-phobes, leadership married to the status quo or tight budgets deter him from retooling an education infrastructure that habitually fails minority and impoverished students.

The rest of North Carolina should learn his lesson.

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