The battle for a statewide curriculum in Hawai'i's public schools appears to be over.

The teachers have won — again.

And the big losers? The students.

Legislators, afraid to tip over the applecart of the powerful teachers union, are fashioning a last-minute compromise on curriculum legislation that is likely to pass this session. But it's far from the best option for students and looks nothing like what was once a bold idea to align the entire public school curriculum statewide.

Instead, the bill provides new tools and money for the education complexes that voluntarily take part in an effort to assure consistency in how students are taught at every grade level.

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, Education and Military Affairs Committee chairman, said he'd be happy if just three of the state's 15 complexes adopt the plan. But fighting inconsistency with an inconsistent solution makes no sense. The vast majority of students will still be under the status quo, where the learning experience varies so greatly from school to school because teachers can essentially come up with their own curriculum. Good for teachers, but not necessarily for the students, who often find themselves unprepared when they either transfer schools or go from one grade to the next.

The original Senate Bill 3059 would have given teachers and the Department of Education the flexibility to devise a model curriculum that included Hawaiian culture and other aspects unique to the Hawai'i situation. It was not an "off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all" approach.

And yet resistance from the teachers union was so high, Sakamoto was forced to salvage the bill by making it a pilot program, complete with a study to test for effectiveness.

The school district doesn't have the time to waste. It needs a model curriculum now to meet standards dictated by the federal No Child Left Behind law.

A stripped-down curriculum bill sacrifices yet another generation of students in an underperforming system where teachers come first.