EDITORIAL : CHAN TO THE RESCUE VALLEY PRINCIPAL WOULD BE A GOOD CHOICE FOR LAUSD BUSINESS CZAR.

WE'RE still waiting for some official word from the Los Angeles Unified School District about having a business czar.

That idea received plenty of public support during the process that led up to the recent selection of the new superintendent. The winning candidate, Ruben Zacarias, himself emerged as an ardent advocate for an outsider taking full control of all noncurriculum operations and reporting only to him.

The concept was for a business czar to whip the district's operations into businesslike shape, spending taxpayer dollars in ways that get more bang for the buck - more money for students, not bureaucracy.

However, advertising and networking have produced no sign of finding someone with proven experience and demonstrated know-how to take on such a huge challenge.

It may be just as well since right within the ranks of the LAUSD is the person who can change the bloated and politicized school-district bureaucracy - a credible home-grown business czar who has demonstrated the ability to lead, to challenge entrenched mind-sets and to run circles around the district's money-changers.

The candidate, of course, is none other than Yvonne Chan.

Chan is the dynamic, no-nonsense principal of the Pacoima charter school, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center. She seems like an ideal leader to shake up and reform the hidebound LAUSD offices.

Frankly, we don't know if she's interested in the job. But she has demonstrated her ability and skills, most recently Wednesday when she spoke up in her usual candid manner to President Clinton at a meeting in Nashville, Tenn., devoted to issues of education and families.

Clinton was so surprised, he blushed and held his head in his hands. But she was right on target in making the point that too many educators and administrators worry more about bureaucratic rules than education innovations that would better serve students and taxpayers.

Although Vaughn Next Century Learning Center is not located in a wealthy area, under Chan's leadership it has been a model of what a charter school can achieve - including classroom improvements, cost savings and careful management of funds for expansion, construction and operation.

Chan absolutely understands the L.A. Unified School District's budgeting, and we would venture to say that few can match her knack for using scarce education dollars effectively. The district leadership looks shoddy in comparison. The district has yet to take concrete steps to calm public concerns about rampant mismanagement, waste of public funds and low productivity.

Besides her genius for budgeting, Chan fought to get Vaughn's fair share despite opposition from the defenders of the status quo. That shows she is tough enough to turn the district around - which she will have to be, since the entrenched powers would be certain to resist her efforts.