It took a while, but word finally reached down into the state bureaucracy that Gov. Bobby Jindal thinks using federal stimulus money for light rail projects is wasteful.

   A deputy in the state transportation department must have missed that part of the governor's speech on national television in February--or was laughing too hard at his delivery--when Jindal mocked an $8 billion item in the stimulus bill for rail projects, along with his disdain for volcano monitoring.

   Then the governor's crack communications team must too have missed the Associated Press story about the department's interest in applying to the feds for $300 million to begin passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, provided the state could find $18 million per year to cover operating expenses.

   It did not escape the notice of MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann, who labeled Jindal a hypocrite and put him on his "Worst Persons in the World" list. (Olbermann's list started with initial honoree Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, as part of their feud over who is biggest blowhard on cable TV.)

   That national accolade must have gotten the wheels spinning at the transportation agency, for Secretary William Ankner quickly wrote to inform the feds that the state would not be asking for their money.

    The governor, who used nearly $1 billion in stimulus funds to balance the state budget but who rejected $75 million for extended unemployment benefits, reaffirms his principled opposition to President Obama's spending policies.

   Yet, despite their clash on the rails, there is a stimulus-funded program on which these two great minds think alike, and which could be a boon for local school districts, should they get on board.

   Recently, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised Louisiana as "uniquely positioned" to win some of the $4.35 billion in the "Race to the Top" competition, which is funded through the stimulus act. The program will reward those states that, among other reforms, remove barriers to charter schools, intervene aggressively to turn around failing schools and link student performance to teacher evaluations.

   All of the above and more have been state education policy going back to Govs. Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco, and were continued and expanded under Jindal and state Superintendent Paul Pastorek.

   Pastorek wants to use the federal competition to extend the reach of charter schools and state intervention from urban areas, where the action is now, to rural parishes, where the new initiatives have barely scratched.

   He estimates that the state and local school districts could snare as much as $200 million, depending on cooperation from parish school boards--and there's the rub.

   Pastorek, who clashed during the legislative session with school boards over reining in their powers, and lost, sees the grant competition as his olive branch to local authorities. But some of them view it more as a Trojan horse.

   Under rules the state superintendent is developing, schools must undergo drastic changes to compete for federal dollars. They must either be converted to charter schools (publicly funded but operated by teachers and parents autonomous of local adminstrators); or reconstituted with a new state-picked principal and faculty; or closed down, with students dispersed to other schools.

   The Louisiana School Boards Association, which already has called for Pastorek's resignation, is warning its members about the long strings attached to applying under the rules. According to a LSBA spokesman, signing a memorandum of understanding with the state Department of Education would be tantamount to takeover of the school, which is anathema to local boards.

   Pastorek's conditions could be over-reaching; the school boards could be more concerned with control than improving education.

   The charter school movement has shown marked improvement in the greatest concentration of failed schools, in New Orleans. Pushing that into rural parishes is a bigger but worthy challenge, which could be facilitated by the state placing in the "Race to the Top."

   It is unacceptable that a rare and beneficial agreement on policy between the president and the governor should founder on disputes between the state superintendent and local officials. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers earlier called upon Gov. Jindal to settle the grudge match between his guy and the boards. With this opportunity on the line, it's about time.