Districts may implement strong innovation programs, and can arrange themselves so that entrepreneurship in the system can take place free of undue restriction. But only a state can relax the legislative and regulatory constraints on prospective new schools. Only state legislatures can remove barriers to change embedded in state law. State statute can be proactive and create the conditions for innovation that span the district and chartered sectors.
The strategy of innovation-based reform creates opportunity for those interested in changing the design of schools. Teachers are pressing for the opportunity to start and run their own schools in nearly every city where the opportunity has been opened. Civic and political leaders can press districts to ensure that new, innovative schools are able to develop free from undue restrictions and contrary interests.
First, legislatures should identify with the help of teachers and entrepreneurs everything in current law and regulation that gets in the way of innovation. This will turn up some surprises, and it will unsettle some people. But this is a necessary step. Remove the excuses for trying things that would work better. Remove barriers to the adoption of learning models that are fundamentally different than the course-and-class arrangement.
Second, make it possible for districts to create new schools with autonomy and decreased regulation. Make sure that those districts interested in trying things new have the full authority to do so. This has happened in Minnesota through their Site-Governed district schools; has begun in West Virginia through their new innovation zones law; and is now possible in Massachusetts with pilot schools and Innovation Schools.
Third, follow the Minnesota legislature's lead in the exploration of a state-level innovation entity to help focus efforts at getting schools that are new, different, and better. Establish a basic infrastructure in the state to provide leadership and support for the creation of many new schools that are different. Charge it with fostering innovation and providing technical assistance to school entrepreneurs. Make it responsible for identifying the most qualified authorizers of new schools, and to managing federal and other funds to facilitate planning and start-ups.
*Image: Capitol dome, Minnesota, Michael Mingo
