As chairman of the California state senate’s education committee, Gloria Romero would be expected to be feted and beloved by the state’s National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers affiliates. Instead, she has been one of the biggest thorns in the sides of the Golden State’s two primary teachers unions. The California State University, Los Angeles professor — who was the first woman to serve as the upper house’s majority leader — has been responsible for legislation that has removed the cap on the number of charter schools and allowing for student test data to be used in teacher evaluations. And as part of her work with outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to win a share of federal Race to the Top dollars, Romero also helped enact Parent Trigger,  the law that allows 51 percent of parents at a low-performing school to remove teaching staff, administrators or even the entire district (and convert the school into a charter). Although the unions have managed to defeat her effort this year to run for state schools superintendent, they haven’t exactly weakened her passion (or her efforts).

Watch this video of Romero discussing the underlying reason why she is pushing for reform: The thousands of young white, black and Latino Californians who, along with more than 1.2 million other teens this year, will drop out into poverty and prison. Think about what you can do to solve this problem — and then take action.