An Opportunity for the Schools

Los Angeles school board races are traditionally shoo-ins for incumbents. Not this year. More than a dozen candidates, including several serious contenders with strong financial backing from Mayor Richard Riordan, are vying for four seats on the April 13 ballot. As challengers and incumbents gear up for a fierce competition, voters should look for solid proposals to improve flagging public education in a large urban district where more children fail than succeed.

School board members ought to concentrate on education, set policy, decide priorities, support the superintendent and give teachers the tools they need, then stay out of the way. We should hear promises from all candidates to end micro-managing, intrusion in personnel matters and meddling in issues best decided at the school level.

Campaign promises should parallel the goals advanced by the new governor, Gray Davis: higher expectations for students and teachers, tougher and measurable academic standards and greater accountability in every classroom, on every campus.

The candidates should take a pledge: In five years, two-thirds of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District will read at grade level in English by the end of third grade. Currently, two out of three LAUSD students fail to become competent readers by the end of third grade. Reversing that dismaying trend will require an undistracted focus on learning.

The distractions are many in a district that enrolls nearly 700,000 pupils, runs more than 600 schools, has more than 64,000 employees--including 32,000 teachers. Even a $6.5-billion budget fails to cover every need, expense and union demand.

The biggest distraction is a powerful teachers union that often dictates who will sit on the school board and how those members will vote. The latest union battle pits an additional pay raise for teachers against instructional priorities outlined by Supt. Ruben Zacarias. Given the current political realities, the teachers can probably expect at least a small pay boost and will have to give nothing in return. If fewer captives of the unions are elected to the board, future pay raises are more likely to be dependent on accountability. There is nothing wrong in having school board members who cooperate with the union and agree with it on some matters. But being completely beholden hurts educational goals.

Fiercely independent board members are needed to end the protection of teachers who don’t belong in a classroom and of principals who should find another line of work. Without that independence, no real accountability will be demanded in a school system where failure is a fixture and poor results are rarely punished.

This school board election could bring parents and other voters an exciting, honest debate over how best to improve schools. Any candidate who fails to address the important issues head-on and make measurable promises should fail miserably at the polls.