EDITORIAL ANTONIO'S SCHOOLS (AVUSD) MAYOR NEEDS AUTHORITY TO SET UP HIS OWN CHARTERS.

MAYOR Antonio Villaraigosa struggles to get some control over the Los Angeles Unified School District -- the courts have struck down his takeover legislation, and next month's school board races promise to be close. So City Councilman Richard Alarcon has come up with a promising alternative: Let the city start up its own district.

Well, not exactly, but close enough. Alarcon is proposing that City Hall open an Office of Education, which would be empowered to create and run charter schools.

Assuming the office could run its schools better than the district does, which shouldn't be hard, students would start streaming in, and what we could then call the Antonio Villaraigosa Unified School District -- or AVUSD -- would thrive.

Although this proposal is no substitute for reform at the LAUSD -- or for electing reformers in next month's school board election -- it could help. Given the district's hostility to charters, it would be useful to have another local entity empowered to create them.

Somehow, we need to bring change and a sense of urgency to the LAUSD. If the "AVUSD" is the answer, so be it.