Higher education should play a greater role in California's public schools. It only makes sense. After all, the world's best colleges and universities reside right here in the Golden State -- particularly in our urban cities, where public school reform is so desperately needed.

Consider this: California is tied for last among 50 states in eighth-grade reading and ranks 47th in the nation in fourth-grade reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Our achievement gap remains wide. But California's public school challenges go much further than just struggling student achievement. According to the state today, one out of three students in California is enrolled in an overcrowded or dilapidated public school.

Our children need help.

A bipartisan bill that's working its way through the State Legislature can provide a welcome solution. Assembly Bill 2764, co-authored by Assembly Member Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, and State Senator Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, would allow public colleges and universities to directly sponsor and oversee new and existing public schools through California's charter school process.

California passed its charter school law in 1992 in order to allow educators and local community groups freedom from the stifling state education code to design programs that better serve our children. In exchange for this flexibility, charter schools are held accountable for how well they improve student achievement. In just 11 years, 471 charter schools have been opened in California, serving over 170,000 students.

Several well-researched studies have shown that, in this short time, student achievement in California's charter schools serving low-income students is improving faster than in noncharter public schools. Charter schools are the right direction when it comes to closing the achievement gap. But the major challenge today is that too many communities that desperately need high-quality public school choices don't have access to enough of them.

There are some early examples that show the potential of intertwining higher education with public schools. Six years ago, for example, in San Diego, a group of visionary educators created a charter school on the campus of the University of California at San Diego for disadvantaged students whose parents lack a college degree. The Preuss School, one of the top performing public charter schools in the state, has remained dedicated to preparing its students for the University of California and other respected institutions of higher education.

In Los Angeles, several public colleges and universities, including UCLA, Cal State University Los Angeles and CSU Northridge, are already involved in inner-city charter schools that serve disadvantaged students. Why? Their schools of education, which produce the majority of our K-12 public school teachers, see charter schools as being on the cutting edge of public education reform. Charter schools can try more innovative teaching approaches and share what works with the broader public schools system.

Public colleges and universities will also benefit by sponsoring charter schools. For example, only about half the freshmen entering the CSU system last fall could read and write proficiently. The CSU system alone spends more than $10 million per year on remedial instruction -- basically getting high school graduates that lack necessary college preparation back on track. This is a tremendous drain on our state's resources. Allowing colleges and universities to further prepare our young students for higher education can help reduce the need for remedial instruction in college. More importantly, it can inspire inner-city students to see college as attainable.

The current examples of successful higher education and charter school partnerships are few and far between, precisely because current charter school law requires colleges and universities to navigate all the red tape of local school-district bureaucracy. Amending state law to allow higher education to directly authorize charter schools addresses this challenge.

The state's Legislative Analyst's Office agrees. Its recent landmark report on charter schools encourages public colleges and universities to authorize charter schools as a way to "promote valuable and educationally beneficial partnerships between K-12 schools and teacher education programs, higher education more generally, and nonprofit community groups."

This bipartisan proposal will bring the many talents and resources of our system of higher education into our struggling K-12 public schools system. The Legislature should quickly adopt it into law.

Caprice Young is CEO of the California Charter Schools Association. Richard C. Atkinson is president emeritus of the University of California.