CHARTER SCHOOLS GOING STRONG IN KANSAS CITY

A bold experiment in urban educational innovation has arrived in Missouri in a big way -- at least on the western side of the state. This fall, charter schools opened with a bang in Kansas City, and the school board there is taking note. They have little choice: In their first weeks of operation, 15 new charter start-ups have attracted an amazing 4,500 students from the Kansas City School District, or roughly 10 percent of its student enrollment last year.

Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local school district, having received a charter to do so from a university or community college. They operate free of many state regulations that apply to regular public schools. When a student leaves the district schools for a charter school, state money goes with him or her. It is a concept that has been tried in many other states and is working splendidly in dozens of communities.

The school board is reacting to parents of students transferring to these new schools, once they are finally being given a choice. "We have not inspired confidence in our patrons, our students, our parents," said school board member Lance Loewenstein. "This is the wake-up call to everybody from the superintendent on down that times have changed."And how. The simple truth is that nothing short of the advent of charter school openings has stimulated such frankness in Kansas City School Board officials. It is a welcome sight.

School board officials are discussing everything from changing to a telephone system that would make them more accessible to patrons, to advertising positive changes in the district. The superintendent, noting that most charters advertise, is urging the telling of the district's story. This will provide more information to district patrons, parents and other taxpayers."Where the competition is really going to set in is around curriculum, instruction and assessment and how the schools are led," said Tammy Blossom, director of strategic ventures for the Learning Exchange, which is tracking the local charter-school movement. "The problem is, the school district, under its current bureaucratic structure, is too slow to react. It's not able to take action as quickly as these charter schools. Ultimately, it's going to come down to, `Is my child going to learn more in a district school or a charter school?'"Exactly. This is why we have consistently championed greater parental freedom to choose any school. There is literally no sector of American life that hasn't been improved by competition. Education is no different. Each competitor in a contest is forced to prove himself choiceworthy. The result will be more responsiveness to parents and better education for youngsters. Charters are beginning to work precisely as their backers hoped.