After years of difficulty and struggle, the  Los Angeles Unified School District appears to be improving a bit. Many of its schools look and feel like calmer places; discipline seems to be less of an issue. Staffers interact more with students. Individual campuses have more control over how they spend money, which enables them to direct dollars to their priorities. During the past couple of years, challenged by the growth of charter schools, the district has begun planning more magnet and pilot schools to attract students.