Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

EDITORIAL
Schools must be wise in use of autonomy

It's a small step, but a recent agreement between the state school system and the Department of Accounting and General Services may lead to significant improvement in the physical quality of our public schools.

DAGS is the central department responsible for physical construction within our state government. It supervises buildings, repairs and maintenance and contracting, among other duties.

For years, the Department of Education has complained that it is forced to put all construction work, from building a brand-new school through repair of broken windows and bathrooms, through the DAGS paperwork bottleneck.

But under a law passed by the Legislature this year, the DOE will now have far greater control over the budget for repair and maintenance.

Initially, some $100 million in borrowed money and $6 million in cash will be switched to the DOE for repair and maintenance projects.

The thinking here is that educators know best what is needed first in the way of physical improvements or repairs. Will it be air-conditioning here, a cafeteria there, or additional classrooms somewhere else?

There's no argument that the physical environment is critical to quality learning.

The transfer of autonomy to the school system is now under way. The vital next step is that the DOE use its new autonomous powers wisely.

Otherwise, you can guarantee that the authority now being granted to the Department of Education will be swiftly yanked back.