Back To Class

Six weeks remained in the term, but rather than looking forward to vacation, 31,300 students of the Richmond, Calif., school district merely wanted the class time they were owed. The debt-ridden district had declared itself bankrupt, and administrators ordered its 52 schools to close their doors on April 30. While parents searched for alternative classroom space, students picketed in protest.

The students -- and their families -- were victims of a fumbled, four-year experiment to give Richmond, a working-class area northeast of San Francisco, a system based on the principle of choice that was endorsed by George Bush in his education package last month. To compete for students, the district hired hundreds of new teachers, set up magnet schools and began offering special courses in subjects like calligraphy and theatrical-lighting design. The ^ program brought Richmond national acclaim -- and a deficit of up to $29 million.

Richmond has a reprieve -- for now. Last week a superior-court judge ruled that if a district cannot pay for the rest of the semester, the state must. Officials in Sacramento promptly devised an emergency loan package, which the judge approved, and appointed an administrator to negotiate new employee contracts. Governor Pete Wilson, meanwhile, has appealed the decree, saying it sets a dangerous precedent by using state money to bail out schools.