THE BISHOP AND THE MARINE

Take one Pentecostal bishop with a vision. Throw in a former Marine lieutenant colonel, and what do you get? Well, if you're an African-American child stuck in one of St. Louis's rotten public schools, the answer is the chance of a lifetime: a group of new, privately run schools that plan to take 3,000 kids, representing 7 percent of the city's enrollment, from the St. Louis public school system.

The name of the enterprise is St. Louis Academies, a joint project of ministers like Bishop Lawrence Wooten of the Church of God in Christ -- the fastest growing African-American church in the country -- and Tim Daniels, an ex-Marine with an MBA who will serve as its executive director. Daniels's group has arranged for $20 million in loans, corporate sponsors are being approached and the group is converting abandoned parochial schools to its needs. Some federal money will be available for before- and after-school programs and subsidized meals, given that the majority of students will come from families below the poverty line.

Signal to bureaucrats

"This is not aimed against the public schools," says Daniels. "We wanted to open charter schools but to save our kids we are now going to do it all by ourselves." But it is a signal to education bureaucrats. For though Missouri has had a charter school law for years, bureaucrats have proved reluctant to approve them. Only four charters, with a total of 1,400 students, currently operate in St. Louis. The need to shake up the system is urgent. Bishop Lawrence Wooten, a former public school principal himself, notes that only 42 percent of children entering kindergarten in St. Louis will graduate from high school despite per-pupil expenditures of nearly $10,000 a year. Many of those who get diplomas won't have the literacy or job skills to succeed.

"The key to having a vibrant community is good schools and we must provide them," he told us. St. Louis leads the nation in the scope of its population decline. In 1950, it was home to 850,000 people. The 2000 census saw that number drop by more than half, with only 325,000 people now living within the city limits.

St. Louis Academies is taking its job seriously. It held 36 town-hall meetings to discuss its schools project and collected the names of thousands of interested parents. Diana Bourisaw, a former school superintendent, is designing the curriculum and hiring teachers. Student learning will be measured every nine weeks and those falling behind will have to come early and stay late for tutoring. While she has hired retired business executives to teach math and accounting, 80 percent of her teachers will have full teaching credentials. Quality schools, she says, can be run for half what the public school system costs, but parents will be charged only for transportation and special programs.

Strong ally

These reformers have a strong ally in State Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, the first GOP leader of that body in 50 years. Kinder has convened a special Senate committee on urban education and promises to hold hearings this fall. In particular he says that Kansas City shows the folly of injecting more money into public schools while keeping out competition. Under a judge's order, Kansas City spent $4 billion to improve its schools and failed miserably. Right now the state of Ohio has a request before the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to rule on the constitutionality of its voucher program in Cleveland. If the Court rules favorably, Sen. Kinder believes that choice rather than spending will become the driving force of education reform.

But Bishop Wooten's support is a welcome sign of the growing realization among African-American leaders, not least the clergy, that their children cannot afford to wait for the political system. In the inner cities, the status quo is failing to give these kids an education that will give them a shot at a decent future. "The church educates the soul, we intend to educate the mind," says Daniels.

In other words, this is not about faith-based schools. It's about education. Though the schools will not teach religion, they will follow a values-based curriculum. Nor will there be any Afrocentric courses to enhance "self esteem." Instead, the stress here is on parental involvement. Each parent will go through a training program and spend two to four hours a month as a volunteer or classroom mentor. Every effort will be made to have each student keep the same teacher for two or three years. Once the schools have proved themselves, Daniels hopes to convert the schools to public charters.

Thus far reaction from St. Louis public school officials has been muted, other than to scoff at claims that 3,000 students will be leaving their system anytime soon. But in the week since St. Louis Academies announced its opening, public school teachers called local radio talk shows to praise the new schools. And parents are flooding phone lines asking for applications. We know from the Good Book that faith can move mountains, and we know from Iwo Jima that Marines are pretty good at taking them. With a combination like that, does anyone really think these two are going to let a thing like the St. Louis education bureaucracy stand in their way?

This was the lead editorial in Monday's edition of The Wall Street Journal.