Los Angeles Unified School District takeover work in progress
By Naush Boghossian
LA Daily News
With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hoping to take over Los Angeles Unified in just four weeks, city officials say they're working hard to streamline operations while school district leaders are bracing for the changes.
If upheld in court, Assembly Bill 1381, signed into law in September, will shift significant power from the elected school board to the district's superintendent and give the mayor authority over three low-performing school clusters. It also will give educators greater control over their campus's budget and curriculum.
Villaraigosa's education team -- led by his chief of staff, Robin Kramer; Deputy Mayor Ed Cortines; and attorney Tom Saenz -- has been studying public-school districts nationwide and debating how to raise stu-dent achievement and make the LAUSD more efficient.
Their top concerns, officials say, include pinpointing the district's dropout rate, providing educators with sufficient support and training, and including parents in the education system. For instance, Villaraigosa is weighing a program used in Chicago, where parents grade the performance of their children's schools.
The education team is also developing timelines of when decisions need to be made and implemented, as well as benchmarks to track progress.
But it will be newly hired Superintendent David Brewer who will feel the biggest change in his role. Be-ginning Jan. 1, he'll assume the authority to make budget, management and contracting decisions and take over the district's massive school-construction program.
"Giving the superintendent more authority to run the school district will only streamline the decision-making process by giving him the oversight he needs to push for real change in our public schools," said Janelle Erickson, the mayor's spokeswoman.
Villaraigosa and Brewer also want a management audit conducted of the LAUSD as part of their reform effort.
And the mayor also must formally designate the three high schools and their feeder campuses for which he'll accept responsibility -- two beginning July 1 and the third in September 2008.
While the Mayor's Office is moving ahead with its takeover plans, LAUSD officials hope a judge will rule in their favor on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate AB 1381. Arguments in the case are scheduled for Dec. 15.
Kevin Reed, the LAUSD's lead attorney, said a Jan. 1 implementation of AB 1381 will result in an up-heaval in the district's budget process and its $19.2 billion construction program.
Shifting contracting authority from the board to the superintendent will result in a slowdown in the proc-ess, said Reed, who predicted cost overruns of $150 million for a construction program that is already short of cash.
"I think you can expect a lot of disruption with the operation of the schools, primarily related to the great ambiguity that exists in the bill and a lot of unanswered questions in AB 1381," Reed said. "But we have con-tingency plans."
Reed also said the lines of authority between Brewer, Villaraigosa and the board will need to be worked out.
"We would be entering territory no other school district or public agency has had to enter. The district will do its best to comply with the law when and if it goes into effect, but it will be incredibly difficult to do so.
"It will be costly, and it will be a substantial disruption to the operation of the district."
School board President Marlene Canter said there has been no formal meeting with the mayor's staff to discuss AB 1381.
But, she said, board members want Brewer to serve as a liaison between them and the mayor -- espe-cially if a judge rules that AB 1381 is valid.
"From the board's perspective, we are continuing our governance responsibilities and we'll continue to do that no matter what as we move forward," she said. "We'll do whatever we need to do to serve the needs of the kids."
At a news conference last week, Villaraigosa said he hopes the suit challenging the constitutionality of AB 1381 will be decided quickly.
Villaraigosa refused to divulge details of what his office is doing to prepare for a governance shift, but said staffers have been working hard.
"We have an exciting plan for the mayor's partnership schools. We have met with some of the best edu-cation reformers in the country and leading advocates for kids. These schools, without question, do not have the resources they need. Part of what I can do with this bully pulpit is make the case for more funding."
In its lawsuit, the district claims that AB 1381 violates constitutional mandates separating the operations of cities and the education system. The suit also says the law violates the Los Angeles City Charter, which does not grant the mayor specific authority over public schools; and that it disenfranchises voters who don't live in Los Angeles but are served by the district.
In ruling on the suit, the judge will have to decide whether provisions of the City Charter or state law pre-vail, said Loyola Law School professor Karl Manheim.
If AB 1381 goes into effect Jan. 1, most people won't expect the mayor to make dramatic changes in the first week -- or even the first month, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California.
But, the mayor's political future could depend on the success of schools, especially those in the three clusters he'll oversee.
"At this point in time, it's fairly important in terms of his political career and his agenda," Jeffe said.
"He set up this goal, and he promised there would be a difference. The question is whether or not voters will hold him to that promise or whether or not he can make good on his promise.
"But if the schools he's directly overseeing don't improve, he's in a significant danger zone," she said. "There's no way out of that."
LA Daily News
With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hoping to take over Los Angeles Unified in just four weeks, city officials say they're working hard to streamline operations while school district leaders are bracing for the changes.
If upheld in court, Assembly Bill 1381, signed into law in September, will shift significant power from the elected school board to the district's superintendent and give the mayor authority over three low-performing school clusters. It also will give educators greater control over their campus's budget and curriculum.
Villaraigosa's education team -- led by his chief of staff, Robin Kramer; Deputy Mayor Ed Cortines; and attorney Tom Saenz -- has been studying public-school districts nationwide and debating how to raise stu-dent achievement and make the LAUSD more efficient.
Their top concerns, officials say, include pinpointing the district's dropout rate, providing educators with sufficient support and training, and including parents in the education system. For instance, Villaraigosa is weighing a program used in Chicago, where parents grade the performance of their children's schools.
The education team is also developing timelines of when decisions need to be made and implemented, as well as benchmarks to track progress.
But it will be newly hired Superintendent David Brewer who will feel the biggest change in his role. Be-ginning Jan. 1, he'll assume the authority to make budget, management and contracting decisions and take over the district's massive school-construction program.
"Giving the superintendent more authority to run the school district will only streamline the decision-making process by giving him the oversight he needs to push for real change in our public schools," said Janelle Erickson, the mayor's spokeswoman.
Villaraigosa and Brewer also want a management audit conducted of the LAUSD as part of their reform effort.
And the mayor also must formally designate the three high schools and their feeder campuses for which he'll accept responsibility -- two beginning July 1 and the third in September 2008.
While the Mayor's Office is moving ahead with its takeover plans, LAUSD officials hope a judge will rule in their favor on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate AB 1381. Arguments in the case are scheduled for Dec. 15.
Kevin Reed, the LAUSD's lead attorney, said a Jan. 1 implementation of AB 1381 will result in an up-heaval in the district's budget process and its $19.2 billion construction program.
Shifting contracting authority from the board to the superintendent will result in a slowdown in the proc-ess, said Reed, who predicted cost overruns of $150 million for a construction program that is already short of cash.
"I think you can expect a lot of disruption with the operation of the schools, primarily related to the great ambiguity that exists in the bill and a lot of unanswered questions in AB 1381," Reed said. "But we have con-tingency plans."
Reed also said the lines of authority between Brewer, Villaraigosa and the board will need to be worked out.
"We would be entering territory no other school district or public agency has had to enter. The district will do its best to comply with the law when and if it goes into effect, but it will be incredibly difficult to do so.
"It will be costly, and it will be a substantial disruption to the operation of the district."
School board President Marlene Canter said there has been no formal meeting with the mayor's staff to discuss AB 1381.
But, she said, board members want Brewer to serve as a liaison between them and the mayor -- espe-cially if a judge rules that AB 1381 is valid.
"From the board's perspective, we are continuing our governance responsibilities and we'll continue to do that no matter what as we move forward," she said. "We'll do whatever we need to do to serve the needs of the kids."
At a news conference last week, Villaraigosa said he hopes the suit challenging the constitutionality of AB 1381 will be decided quickly.
Villaraigosa refused to divulge details of what his office is doing to prepare for a governance shift, but said staffers have been working hard.
"We have an exciting plan for the mayor's partnership schools. We have met with some of the best edu-cation reformers in the country and leading advocates for kids. These schools, without question, do not have the resources they need. Part of what I can do with this bully pulpit is make the case for more funding."
In its lawsuit, the district claims that AB 1381 violates constitutional mandates separating the operations of cities and the education system. The suit also says the law violates the Los Angeles City Charter, which does not grant the mayor specific authority over public schools; and that it disenfranchises voters who don't live in Los Angeles but are served by the district.
In ruling on the suit, the judge will have to decide whether provisions of the City Charter or state law pre-vail, said Loyola Law School professor Karl Manheim.
If AB 1381 goes into effect Jan. 1, most people won't expect the mayor to make dramatic changes in the first week -- or even the first month, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California.
But, the mayor's political future could depend on the success of schools, especially those in the three clusters he'll oversee.
"At this point in time, it's fairly important in terms of his political career and his agenda," Jeffe said.
"He set up this goal, and he promised there would be a difference. The question is whether or not voters will hold him to that promise or whether or not he can make good on his promise.
"But if the schools he's directly overseeing don't improve, he's in a significant danger zone," she said. "There's no way out of that."
