CHARTER SCHOOLS DESERVE CHANCE IN ST. LOUIS

A classic novel begins, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." So it is today in Missouri's two largest cities, home to two of America's desperately troubled urban school systems. The state has begun the process of taking away accreditation for both school systems within the next two years if significant improvements aren't made.

Last year, as part of a remarkable bill the Legislature passed to help end the long-running desegregation cases, lawmakers provided for charter schools in our two largest cities. These are public schools, usually smaller than other public schools, that are freed of many of the regulations that hamstring most schools. Under this new law, these schools -- typically formed by teachers, parents, businesses and neighborhood groups -- come into being pursuant to a charter granted by a public college or university.

A remarkable experiment in educational innovation is under way in Kansas City. What is happening in St. Louis, by way of contrast, is: nothing.

Owing mostly to the proactive leadership provided by top officials at Central Missouri State University at Warrensburg, no fewer than 15 charter schools began operation in Kansas City this fall. Overnight, these innovative approaches have demonstrated how badly parents want and need alternatives to the dysfunctional Kansas City schools. A remarkable 10 percent of the student enrollment in Kansas City last year is in charter schools this year.

So the debate as to whether parents urgently desire alternatives to failing urban schools is over. The only question is whether our leaders -- educational and political -- will work with parents in responding to what parents are saying and -- when given a choice -- doing.

This newspaper is one of the few in the state to devote special attention and resources to a series on the charter-school movement. Where none existed in America 10 years ago, today there are nearly 2,000 charter schools up and running, offering parents all manner of innovative choices within the public system. Top officials at the St. Louis School Board have erected a stone wall against any charters in that declining city, even filing a bogus lawsuit against the charter law.

Charter schools are providing the first ray of hope in many years for the mostly poor and minority children trapped in St. Louis and Kansas City schools. In St. Louis, institutions such as the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri Historical Society are ready to start charters. It is time for education leaders, including those at Southeast Missouri State University, to follow the lead of lawmakers in making these hopes a reality.