The Charleston County School Board on Tuesday approved applications for three charter elementary schools, in Mount Pleasant, Charleston and North Charleston, each with a different educational approach. It also approved the controversial charter conversion of James Island High School, which puts the school under the control a governance board to be elected by parents and staff.

The board's endorsement of the charter applications, despite the extra expense cited by district officials, underscores its willingness to give charter schools a chance. That should soon be reflected on the state level, as education officials put into effect legislative directives aimed at opening the way for charter schools.

South Carolina has lagged far behind many states in charter-school education, as advocates have unsuccessfully attempted to surmount hurdles that had previously been set too high. Currently there are only 14 charter schools in operation in the state. A major stumbling block was initially created by the Legislature when it required that the enrollment meet a racial quota within 10 percent of the district's where it was located.

That requirement was later eased to 20 percent, with the qualification that the quota could be eliminated altogether if there were no evidence that the school was discriminating on its enrollment. Since discriminating on enrollment is illegal, there should never be a need to apply the racial quota. The state Supreme Court allowed the provision to stand on Monday.

Gov. Sanford reiterated his support of charter schools last week in his State of the State address, noting that every idea for school choice advanced during his campaign had been successfully tried in other states "and had worked to improve education and achievement."

"This ultimately ought to be the test of any idea of educational choice," he said. "Charter schools will be our first step." The governor cited one effect of the state's failure to advance on charter schools: "We are leaving millions of dollars in available federal matching funds on the table."

Charter schools have been depicted by some black legislators as a way to re-segregate schools. Those critics have chosen to ignore the experience of minority students in other states who have been able to leave poorly performing public schools for charter schools, and have done well as a result.

Charter schools are public schools operated with public money, though under a different set of guidelines than traditional schools. The charter school movement acknowledges that no single educational method can be expected to meet the needs of all students.

In some instances, the existence of charter schools represents a repudiation of public education that has failed to deliver. As competition, charter schools can force traditional public schools to do a better job.

The option of charter schools is needed in South Carolina, where public education has lagged behind the rest of the nation. Charter schools offer parents a way to force school improvement, and provide for school choice previously available only to those with the financial means to pay for it.