EDITORIAL FIXING THE LAUSD REFORM DEBATE IS NECESSARY, BUT CHARTER SCHOOLS OFFER IMMEDIATE RELIEF.

EVER since Bob Hertzberg made breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District the centerpiece of his campaign for mayor, the education-reform movement has been gaining momentum. In response, the education establishment has been circling the wagons.

The result is that all signs point to a fierce political battle - and soon - over the future of the LAUSD. But there's no guarantee that when the fighting's over, schools will actually be any better. Consider the possibilities:

--Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take over the district could bring some accountability, but may or may not actually improve schools. LAUSD officials bitterly oppose the idea, although Villaraigosa did meet with Superintendent Roy Romer last week to mend fences. The meeting was, by all accounts, cordial, but with both sides seemingly entrenched, this peace may prove to be short-lived.

--Closely allied to Villaraigosa's effort is City Controller Laura Chick's relentless attempt to audit the LAUSD - a proposal that district officials flatly reject. But even without district cooperation, Chick plunges forward, demanding the release of all previous LAUSD audits.

Chick's campaign continues to draw public attention, and will inevitably dredge up embarrassing details about the bureaucracy's operations. All of which will only fuel public demands for reform - thus ensuring even greater district resistance.

--Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Northridge, plans to introduce legislation later this year that would break the district up into at least a dozen smaller, more manageable districts. This is at once the most exciting and least promising education-reform effort.

On the plus side, few reforms, including mayoral control, would be as effective as breakup, which would turn control of the LAUSD over to local communities. But given the teachers unions' tight grip on Sacramento, Richman's proposal has little chance of even making it out of committee. Breakup is, in all likelihood, the great idea that will never happen, or at least not any time soon.

So where does that leaves us?

Villaraigosa, Chick and Richman are all angling for reform efforts that are likely to arouse massive opposition, while offering little hope for meaningful results. That doesn't sound too promising.

There is, however, a simple, highly effective education reform available to the LAUSD, one that all sides can more or less agree on - charter schools.

Charters are already some of the brightest lights in the district, offering the flexibility that bureaucracy-managed, traditional public schools can't match. And, unlike traditional public schools, when charters fail, they shut down. When they succeed, their innovations and programs are widely emulated.

They also cost less and can get up and running much quicker.

In New Orleans, where many schools were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and the school district was bankrupted by the decimated tax base, charters are now the norm in public education. City officials found that these largely autonomous campuses, free from much of the red tape of traditional public schools, are more economical and easier to establish.

And while L.A. has, thank goodness, not suffered anything like what New Orleans has gone through, we do have an educational crisis of our own. Perhaps the key to New Orleans' educational recovery could also be the key to L.A.'s.

Although the LAUSD has been antagonistic toward charters in the past, district officials swear those days are over. They now claim to fully support charters, as does the mayor and much of Sacramento.

Mayoral control, a mega-audit or a breakup of the LAUSD might all be worthwhile, but all are likely to take a long time and face long odds. While those issues are hashed out, it only makes sense for all sides to get together on what can be achieved now - a massive expansion of charter education in Los Angeles.

Charter schools are expanding in L.A., but not fast enough to keep up with the demand from families and teachers. On the local level, this pressure could be relieved if the district would take a less hostile, speedier approach to approving new charters. Statewide, Sacramento should adopt legislation empowering colleges, universities and city governments to grant charters of their own.

A wide-ranging education-reform debate is not only necessary, but long overdue. Still, it won't do much to improve the state of L.A. public education now.

By all means, let's consider mayoral control, breakup and all other possibilities, but in the meantime, let's take full advantage of the tremendous good charters have to offer.