Grading Riordan’s Resolve on L.A. Schools

Kathleen Willey had been on “60 Minutes” the night before, and now reporters were asking President Clinton about her allegations as he appeared at an education conference in Maryland.

Then a familiar voice came over my car radio.

“Mr. President, could I suggest that we get on with the important topic of what our children are going to be doing in the next century in science and math?”

Next came the sound of approving applause.

The familiar voice, I would later confirm, was indeed our own Mayor Riordan’s. According to Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s press deputy, Clinton then turned to Riordan and quipped, “I think I’m going to hire you as my press secretary,” prompting laughter from the audience.

For Riordan, Rodriguez said, it was “a great moment.”

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American education, of course, has been in a state of crisis since people started asking why Johnny can’t read. As Riordan knows, Los Angeles is a prime example of the troubles.

A generation ago, California was among the nation’s leaders in both per pupil spending and student performance, and the UC and Cal State systems promised higher education at low prices. But that was then. Today, California, the nation’s most populous state, is often compared to the poorest, Mississippi. Here in L.A., many schools, teachers and students still shine, and success stories abound. But too often these are the exception.

To use a metaphor now in vogue, it seems that something went bump in the night long ago and now the titanic L.A. Unified School District is sinking as the school board argues on. The most privileged Angelenos--the first-class passengers, if you will--may look to private schools as their personal lifeboats. More people are likening school vouchers to life jackets.

Now comes Riordan barking out orders, using his bully pulpit to promote education reform, involving himself in LAUSD politics despite limited legal authority.

This is good news. Riordan, of course, has never had trouble putting money where his mouth is. The problem is, sometimes he’s had trouble putting his mouth where the issues are.

Remember the great illegal immigration debate of 1994? Riordan, who had campaigned on the promise he was “tough enough to turn L.A. around,” wasn’t tough enough to take a stand on Proposition 187. Education has long been a professed passion, yet Riordan had no public opinion on a plan to track down and remove the illegal immigrant children from classrooms.

Later came Riordan’s flip-flopping over an early Valley secession bill that, quite unconstitutionally, would have denied all Angelenos an equal vote. The mayor fecklessly nurtured a movement he professes to oppose.

As it happened, when Riordan was in Maryland on Monday talking about education, results of a Valley secession poll were released. The poll, bankrolled by political power brokers Bert Boeckmann and David Fleming, suggested that Valley voters favor separate cityhood by a 2-1 ratio.

The headlines were all about “secession” and “cityhood.” But a closer look at the survey indicates that the Valley beefs with city government are far outweighed by complaints about the school system.

Only 23.8% of respondents had a positive impression of the L.A. school board, while 61.7% described it as “poor” or “very poor.” Mayor Riordan, meanwhile, had a glowing 78.8% approval rating. Even the rancorous, scandal-plagued City Council got more favorable than negative reviews, 46.7% to 39.3%, and individual Valley reps received a strong thumbs-up.

Critics noted that the pollster craftily asked a question about the reviled LAUSD immediately before raising the issue of secession, thus poisoning the well. That’s not to discount the disaffection the survey shows.

But the object of disaffection, obviously, is the schools.

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“Lack of accountability” is the phrase Riordan uses in describing the great trouble with education, saying the system needs to find a way to fire bad principals and bad teachers.

Lately, the mayor has used his influence to shore up new schools Supt. Ruben Zacarias, the Chatsworth resident who has issued shape-up-or-ship-out ultimatums to 50 principals. Riordan, meanwhile, has also recently antagonized the school board, questioning whether members have the “mental equipment” to do the necessary work. Rodriguez, the press aide, said Riordan was questioning their “mental resolve,” not their intelligence. Well, at least the board had the resolve to take a stand on Proposition 187.

Riordan, Rodriguez assured me, is a more resolute mayor now. The mayor, she said, plans to reveal for maximum impact definitive positions on such issues as an initiative to abolish bilingual education and the Valley-based petition drive to dismantle the LAUSD and create separate north and south Valley districts.

Mayor Riordan is said to be envious of the power that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani wield over their huge school systems.

Imagine if Zacarias answered to Riordan and not the school board. The LAUSD, whose boundaries are substantially larger than the city’s, is not entirely independent of City Hall; elected city officials oversee the school board’s electoral process.

So perhaps the boldest reform would be to, yes, make the mayor directly accountable for the schools, and the City Council accountable as well. Expand the council, make it more legislative, make the mayor a stronger executive. Give them all greater responsibility by merging their multibillion-dollar budgets. Raise the political stakes and make the same elected officials apply their mental equipment to the same tough questions: How much for teachers? How much for cops?

I find myself wondering why it hasn’t always been that way. And I wonder what Mayor Riordan will say when he makes those definitive stands.

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Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to him at The Times’ Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St. , Chatsworth 91311, or via e-mail at scott.harris@latimes.com Please include a phone number.