EDITORIAL EXAMINING THE LAUSD CHICK AUDIT COULD SPUR REFORMS IN SCHOOLS.

THERE'S one point that education reformers, teachers unions and the city's political leaders all agree on: Something is wrong with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and we need to get to the bottom of it.

United Teachers Los Angeles has long maintained that the district spends money inefficiently, pumping up a bloated bureaucracy instead of providing adequate support to classrooms. In its last contract, the union secured a commitment from district officials to conduct an audit of LAUSD finances.

That small concession could result in huge gains for the people and families of Los Angeles - if the audit is truly independent, thorough and transparent. Given the district's history, many are rightfully skeptical.

Enter Laura Chick, the tough-as-nails city controller, who has unearthed all kinds of waste in her audits of city departments. Chick wants to sic her investigators on the LAUSD, an enormous task for which she would be uniquely qualified.

Other city leaders have endorsed Chick's involvement, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and six members of the City Council. This week, the council will take up a measure encouraging Chick to undertake the study.

All of which seems to have LAUSD officials feeling uneasy. Publicly, they say they're open to a Chick audit, but they complain that her price tag - $800,000 - dwarfs the $200,000 they'd planned to spend.

And it does. But getting a handle on how the district spends its billions is a job worth doing well, one likely to save a lot more money than it costs. This is hardly the place for district spendthrifts to suddenly get miserly.

Still, it's easy to understand their concern. After decades of being largely ignored to do as they please, LAUSD officials find themselves under sudden scrutiny from City Hall. Villaraigosa, Chick and council members have clearly come to realize that education is an issue the public cares - and worries - about deeply.

Last week, the Rand Corp. issued some preliminary findings from a forthcoming study examining major reform proposals for the LAUSD - from direct mayoral control to breakup and other suggestions. City leaders eagerly await the returns.

Change appears to be coming to the LAUSD. But it must begin, as Chick has noted, by answering the question: ``What is the LAUSD doing, and how can it do it better?''