Riordan Lobbies for More School Funds From U.S.

Mayor Richard Riordan urged federal legislators and the Bush administration Wednesday to provide more school money to Los Angeles--a mission that yielded no immediate results, but reflected Riordan’s determination to campaign for education right to the end of his mayoral term.

Riordan, who leaves office July 1, joined the mayors of Detroit, Chicago, St. Paul, Minn., and Washington in lobbying for billions of dollars in new aid to urban schools with large numbers of children from low-income families. It is the latest of many such forays, which Riordan has undertaken as he lobbies for children and attempts to bolster his legacy as a self-proclaimed education mayor.

The results of those missions and Riordan’s involvement in the issue are mixed: Supporters praise Riordan’s work at raising public outrage over the state of Los Angeles schools; critics question the mayor’s follow-through and say they still are waiting for real evidence of progress.

“We’ve started a revolution,” he said Wednesday. “Like a lot of revolutions, or most revolutions, it’s not perfect. But it’s better than it was.”

Riordan and the other mayors made the rounds on Capitol Hill as Congress and the Bush administration negotiate an education reform package that is all but certain to increase school spending. The mayors urged federal authorities to increase the share of money for their cities’ most troubled schools.

“We have a disproportionate number of children in poverty in the big cities,” Riordan said outside the Capitol after the mayors met with members of Congress. “These are children that have been given bad hands, as far as having the tools to be productive, successful adults, and we can stand this no longer.”

The main focus of Riordan and the other mayors was the $8.6-billion Title 1 program, which delivers assistance to schools with large numbers of children in poverty. The Los Angeles Unified School District is getting $206 million in Title 1 money this year.

President Bush has called for a $459-million increase in Title 1 spending this year. Democrats are pushing for 14 times that amount: a $6.4-billion increase.

The wide gap between the Republican president and Democratic legislators put Riordan in a delicate political spot. The Republican mayor, who supported Bush for president, spent the day essentially arguing the Democratic position while trying not to offend the administration.

At one point, Riordan asked the Democratic mayors in his group “not to criticize the president.”

“I just think this is a game that the administration and Congress play every year, and I don’t want to get in the middle of that,” Riordan said.

Turning to the only Republican mayor in the group, Norm Coleman of St. Paul, Riordan joked, “I think we’re all making love the whole day, don’t you think?”

Riordan went out of his way to praise Bush for proposing a plan that could distribute a bigger share of Title 1 money--whatever the final amount--to areas with dense concentrations of low-income children, such as Los Angeles.

“You’ve got a president who has brought education to the forefront, and the fact that Democrats have come to the table by upping the ante is very helpful,” Riordan said.

He cited figures showing that most children from low-income families in Los Angeles cannot read at an eighth-grade level by the time they turn 18.

“It means that the vast majority of these kids have very little hope for the future, and hopelessness leads to crime, drugs, other antisocial behavior,” he said.

Echoing Riordan’s remarks as he toured the capital were Coleman and Democratic Mayors Dennis Archer of Detroit, Richard Daley of Chicago and Anthony Williams of Washington. At the Capitol, they had lunch in the members’ dining room with House Education Committee members.

“We want to do what we can to help,” Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) said after lunch with the mayors. “It’s a very compelling case that they make.”

But Rep. Michael Castle (R-Delaware) said, “I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of give” by GOP legislators in talks with Democrats.

The other major focus of the mayors was special education. Los Angeles is getting $60 million from the federal government this year to pay for special education--or 6% of the total cost. Congress has set a goal of funding 40% of school districts’ special education costs.

Although Bush has proposed an increase in spending, it would still pay for an average of 17% of the costs, and House members were not optimistic about getting much closer to 40%.

The mayors also met with Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) dropped by for a quick photo with the mayors.

Kennedy said: “The mayors are here in a bipartisan way, and they make a strong case, and I think the president ought to listen to that.”