A Needed Broom to the Board

There’s been a broom taken to the Los Angeles Board of Education, and it’s a true cause of celebration. Genethia Hayes has prevailed in a runoff against incumbent Barbara Boudreaux. Hayes joins the new members elected in April, Caprice Young and Mike Lansing, along with David Tokofsky, the one incumbent who was up for reelection who deserved a return to office. The new majority shares a commitment to a better way of doing business on behalf of the nearly 700,000 children who attend public schools in the district. They should first agree on a single, unselfish agenda that puts instruction first.

Together, along with any other board members willing to fully embrace reform, the new board members and Tokofsky can begin to remake public education in Los Angeles.

Lasting change will first require an improvement in how the school board governs. There must be a reduction in overt politicking, disruptive micromanaging, divisive bickering and pandering to labor and other special interests. The new board should quickly adopt the common-sense prescriptions recommended by the Committee on Effective School Governance, a broad-based group of civic leaders.

The biggest battles in the Los Angeles Unified School District are fought over money. Good teachers deserve higher pay, but raises should be balanced with the reading and math initiatives that languishing students need. Ending the teachers union’s destructive chokehold on the board will require Tokofsky and Hayes, who were backed by United Teachers-Los Angeles, to balance their loyalties and demonstrate great independence.

Building schools will present another major challenge. The new board will need to choose between razing homes and building on old industrial sites. The lessons of Belmont, the hugely expensive and disastrous project under construction on tainted land, should inform this process. Safety should come first, without wasting public dollars.

When Hayes and the rest of the reform team take over the school board July 1, student achievement must take precedence. To the new board majority we say congratulations. We anxiously await a new way of thinking and delivering on the promises made to voters.