Schools are a place to learn. So what better spot to test new ways to care for lawns than at schools?

Mankato West High School and Garfield and Monroe elementary schools will put away the pesticides and traditional fertilizers and instead use corn gluten and dried distillers grain on some of their sports fields and lawns.

The experiment came about simply enough: Someone asked.

A parent wrote a letter to the school district about concerns she had with spraying chemicals on school grounds. The request got a sympathetic ear from district officials.

The district has gone about the project in the right way, by getting a group of 20 parents and specialists together to oversee the project and securing a $40,000 grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to ensure the project is done right.

The University of Minnesota Extension service was eager to join in to set up a scientific testing process to see which types of environmentally safe lawn care work and which don’t.

Such a project is long overdue. Most agree that chemicals are necessary to feed people and prevent pestilence, but most also realize that we use far more chemicals than is necessary.

Safer, natural alternatives are available. They’re not always as effective or quick as chemical weed killers and fertilizers, but given time and proper applications they can certainly be effective. The cost, including added labor, may also be higher for natural applications, but some added cost is worth the reduction in chemical use. And prices tend to come down as more people use new products.

The Mankato school district and those involved in the project should be commended for doing something to make the school grounds safer for kids while also providing valuable research information about alternative lawn care.