EDITORIAL HAPPY TRAILS, ROY DEPARTING SUPERINTENDENT LEAVES LAUSD BETTER OFF.

WHEN Roy Romer came from Colorado to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District, he faced three immediate concerns: The schools were overcrowded and falling apart, the quality of instruction was low (the test scores lower) and the bureaucracy was out of control.

Six years later, as Superintendent Romer leaves L.A., we can safely say he's addressed two out of those three concerns.

And two out of three ain't bad.

On the school-building front, Romer's efforts are legendary. After three decades of scandalous neglect -- not a single school had been built in L.A., despite a soaring population -- Romer got to work. He hired a facilities team of competent professionals. He persuaded L.A. voters to back $19.2 billion in school-construction bonds. And he completed construction of hundreds of campuses at a breakneck pace.

On the instruction front, the results were less spectacular, but still notable. Under Romer's leadership, the district has embraced more rigorous standards, adopted more sound curricula and offered remediation to under-performing teachers. Slowly but surely, test scores among the youngest grades have inched up.

What Romer was unable to do -- and what perhaps no superintendent could do -- was get control over the enormous LAUSD bureaucracy. The number of administrative employees has only risen under his leadership, and parents still feel as alienated as ever.

Nonetheless, Romer leaves an LAUSD far more open to reform than the one he inherited. The popularity of charters has given traditional public schools some much-needed competition, and parents a much sought after alternative. And the intractability of the LAUSD bureaucracy has fed the appetite for reform that enabled Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's takeover plan to become law.

All in all, the LAUSD is a better place for Romer's leadership. A grateful city thanks him and wishes him well.