A Pick-Me-Up for L.A. Schools : Good news: federal funding, plus on-site decisions on how to use it

It’s hard to believe, but $20 million worth of good news came out the beleaguered Los Angeles Unified School District this week.

Of course it shouldn’t be news when the nation’s second-largest public school district gets money to replace outdated and tattered textbooks with laser-disc encyclopedias and computer software. The purchase of up-to-date equipment should be routine, but for years it hasn’t been. For the last four years, the routine has been severe budget cuts.

The money that will allow many LAUSD math and science classrooms to finally step into the 1990s is a $10-million federal grant--amazingly, one of the few concrete benefits of the “peace dividend.” At the request of Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) Congress took the money from the defense budget. Perhaps just as astonishing, the district, often criticized for its centralized micro-management mind-set, actually turned the money over directly to schools, where teachers and principals decided how to spend it. It’s school-based management in action, and the teachers and principals say it feels good.

“The idea of department members sitting down to talk about the needs of students and having resources to meet the needs is a very joyous occasion,” one teacher told Times staff writer Stephanie Chavez.

That’s not the only happy news educators received this week. The Los Angeles Educational Partnership is managing a $10-million private-sector program to provide in-depth training for math and science teachers throughout Los Angeles County.

There’s some irony that the financial shot in the arm came during the same week as the release of the long-awaited audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The report made no bones about what is needed: The district needs to cut bureaucracy, modernize and allow managers--in the administrative office and at schools--to make decisions and be accountable for them.

Supt. Sid Thompson said he will take the audit’s recommendations to heart. The district, by leaving decisions about the grant funds to each school, looks as if it has already taken a small step in the right direction.