Gloria Romero grew up in Barstow, the daughter of a railroad worker, and like many of the desert community’s young, left for the big city – in her case Los Angeles, where she earned advanced degrees, and became a college professor and later a Democratic state legislator.

By happenstance, however, Romero’s most important legislation – empowering parents to take control of failing public schools – is making its first impact in Adelanto, just a few miles from Barstow.

This week, a San Bernardino County judge ordered Adelanto’s school board to stop stalling and grant the charter school petition of parents in the Desert Trails Elementary School.

The decision’s timing was exquisitely ironic.

via Dan Walters: Landmark California school law wins key court ruling.