EDUCATION WATCH : Positive Course

When it comes to public education, no one these days argues for more centralized bureaucracy. School-based management--more control by each school’s teachers, principals and parents--is an idea that is here to stay.

The state’s new charter school law, to take effect Jan. 1, is a move toward greater school-based management. The law allows some selected public schools to be freed from the control of local school districts and exempted from some state educational regulations. The basic idea is that a local school knows its educational needs and how best to fulfill them. It’s an experiment that deserves support. The Los Angeles Unified School District has a chance to show that support for one local school, Vaughn Street in Pacoima, which has begun the process of establishing itself as a charter school.

Under the state law, Vaughn Street’s petition to become a charter school must be ratified by the LAUSD. The law does leave open some thorny liability and administrative questions that must be negotiated between a charter school and the local school district. Ultimately, it will be up to the state Board of Education to grant petitions, limited to 10 schools per district.

Those are a lot of hoops to jump through, but it’s worthwhile. Los Angeles officials should give the broadest possible latitude to schools participating in an experiment that could be the beginning of a revolution in public schools. Innovation is never trouble-free. The school district needs to recognize that this ultimate example of school-based management deserves a full measure of opportunity.