Valley Lawmaker Unveils Breakup Plan : Education: Assemblywoman Boland details campaign aimed at dismantling the school district after meeting with the mayor.

A San Fernando Valley lawmaker seeking to spearhead a campaign to dismantle the Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled a plan Friday to raise funds and unite neighborhood activists with education experts to create smaller, more effective school systems.

State Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) released the plan after meeting with Mayor Richard Riordan, who this week announced support for a district breakup.

The mayor said in a statement Friday he is committed to creating a citywide public school system that improves student achievement and fairly distributes district resources. Riordan is seeking a leadership role in a growing--and potentially divisive--grass-roots campaign sprouting in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and the South Bay to dismantle the city school district.

Riordan, who believes the breakup is inevitable, “wants to make sure this is done properly,” said Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s spokeswoman. “For Mayor Riordan, this is not about politics, it’s about quality education for all students.”

Riordan Thursday said the sprawling city school system has failed, despite repeated opportunities to improve the academic performance of students. He said he would sponsor a panel of experts and community activists to coordinate the breakup effort, which requires a city vote.

Boland, who wrote key legislation making it easier for a breakup plan to qualify for a vote, announced a campaign plan that calls for:

* A fund-raising arm to pay for lawyers, consultants and office space.

* Selection of a think tank or university to outline legal and logistic requirements for creating new districts.

* Appointment of a panel of experts to coordinate information.

* Creation of a joint task force of community and school activists now working on separate breakup plans.

“We’re going to be the facilitators to achieve the goal that parents and teachers and the community has wanted for over 20 years,” Boland said.

Boland said Riordan’s support will make it easier to raise money for the complicated--and expensive--process of dismantling the nation’s second-largest school district.

“This is going to take seven figures,” Boland said. “I’m hoping the mayor can help bring the money that we need--that’s very important.”

But Riordan aides said the mayor has not made any commitment to fund raising on behalf of the breakup campaign, which is still in its infancy.

For now, Riordan aides said, the mayor’s interest is in looking at plans that would improve education in the 708-square-mile district, which stretches from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro.

“The bottom line and the first principle is that we owe every child in every part of Los Angeles the best possible education,” the mayor’s statement said. Riordan left for vacation Friday and was unavailable for comment.

Breakup supporters hailed the mayor’s entrance into the debate, saying it gives the idea more credibility.

“I think there’s a perception that it’s just white Valley people involved in the breakup who are racists and who don’t want black and Latino students in their schools,” said Jerry Curry, the president of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, a group supporting the plan. “If you get the mayor involved, it will be a citywide effort. I think he can pull in key people and really move this in the right direction.”

William Ouchi, a UCLA education professor and Riordan’s recent chief of staff, said he agrees that the breakup is inevitable, and should be influenced by the mayor.

Also, Riordan’s support adds “tremendous impetus and credibility to the pro-breakup effort,” Ouchi said.

Board of Education member Barbara Boudreaux, who represents South-Central Los Angeles and who now supports separate districts, said the mayor is “tired of all the fix-it programs in this district. Something has to be changed. The reform efforts have not been successful.”

But Board of Education President Mark Slavkin questioned Riordan’s involvement.

“Are we going to let the people decide . . . or are some fairly powerful people going to design a system from the top down in some private meetings,” he said.

Guilbert Hentschke, dean of the School of Education at USC, said he believes Riordan is responding to the growing popularity of the breakup idea.

“I think he’s responding to what he senses is a shift in the winds,” Hentschke said. “He’s a weather vane and a smart one.”