Maybe a refashioned California Board of Education can help revive the state's K-12 public school system, perennially troubled by low test scores and questionable funding practices. Last week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed seven members to the 11-member board, six of them new, and an early assessment of the new membership suggests promising times ahead.

"They rock," was the two-word vote of approval from Caprice Young, president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association. "We're thrilled. All of these appointments have a strong record in education reform. They will make sure kids are the focus of education policy, as opposed to special interests. They're champions of accountability. That's the litmus test."

Only one appointment, Reed Hastings, is on the current board. The others are new talent that we hope will push the board in the reform position outlined by the governor in his election campaign.

We had urged the governor to ensure his views be heard clearly on the board by appointing Richard Riordan, his secretary of education. The governor has done something similar by tapping Bonnie Reiss, a longtime adviser to the Schwarzenegger family and a founding director of All-Stars, the governor's after-school program for middle schools. "I certainly plan on being their [the governor's and Mr. Riordan's] conduit to the board," she said in a statement.

Another significant appointee is Johnathan Williams, co-founder of the Accelerated School in South Los Angeles, an exemplary charter school that was named Time Magazine's 2001 Elementary School of the Year.

Of the appointees, four are Democrats, two Republicans and Mr. Williams is "decline to state."

Mr. Hastings and Ms. Reiss are Democrats, as are new members Ruth Bloom, an arts advocate and partner in a jewelry firm, and Ruth Green, a member of the Board of Trustees for the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts.

The two Republicans are Glee Johnson, senior adviser to the chancellor of California Community Colleges, and Jeannine Martineau, immediate past president of the Cali- fornia School Boards Association.

"Just Johnathan comes from the charter school movement," Ms. Young said. "But they all care passionately about kids. Reiss is close to Schwarzenegger. Ruth Green has been an advocate for years of strong math in schools."

The board's new members will not have to initiate reforms so much as effectively implement those by the boards, governors and legislators of the past decade. We hope the new board corrects the mistake of last year when the board postponed to 2006 from 2004 the date when the state's high-school graduation exam will be required to get a diploma.

"The No. 1 thing is holding failing schools accountable," Ms. Young urged. "We really know which schools are failing. But the previous board didn't put in place means to hold them accountable, whether they're regular or charter schools. Without accountability, all the testing is meaningless."

As Californians insisted at the ballot box last year, even failing governors must be held accountable. So should failing schools.