Riordan, Romer Lobby Bush for School Funds

During 20 minutes in the Oval Office and at a string of meetings with lawmakers, Mayor Richard Riordan and top Los Angeles school officials staked their claim for new federal education money Wednesday as Congress began fleshing out one of President Bush’s top legislative priorities.

Bush’s education reform plan, a centerpiece of his campaign, is taking shape on Capitol Hill and Riordan and Los Angeles Unified School District’s Supt. Roy Romer arrived early in the process to stress the need for special-education money and teacher retention in the nation’s second-largest school district.

“My personal message was, we desperately need more help for at-risk children,” Riordan said between meetings with the president and First Lady Laura Bush, whom he invited to visit Los Angeles schools.

He said the president clearly understood the problems facing Los Angeles schools but could not make any promises.

“I think it’s going to be a little bit of an uphill process in Congress,” Riordan said.

Romer characterized the meeting with Bush and his domestic policy advisor, Margaret LaMontagne, as fruitful, saying the White House seemed receptive to all suggestions but wedded to none.

Romer said the goal of the trip was more about making friends than gaining commitments.

“We found [Bush] to be absolutely on the same page as we are,” said Los Angeles Board of Education President Genethia Hayes, who accompanied the mayor.

While endorsing Bush’s call for national accountability through testing, the officials cautioned against mandatory exams that might duplicate those the state already administers.

“We don’t want the expense of layering on another test,” Hayes said. “But we are asking the federal government to ratchet up funding and there should be some kind of national accountability.”

Bush’s call for states to improve their measurement of student performance--presumably through testing--is proving one of his reform plan’s more controversial elements. Critics, citing Bush’s own endorsement of local control, are demanding that he give states extensive flexibility in designing their measurement systems.

The Los Angeles officials arrived in Washington with a substantial wish list as they made the rounds at the White House and Congress.

Among the district’s top concerns is ensuring that the new Title I education funding that Bush seeks be funneled to the neediest children. If those funds were distributed evenly statewide, Los Angeles would get about 12%--although it has 25% of the state’s at-risk students, Riordan said.

The officials also hope Bush’s reform bill will provide:

* More resources for special education, which is now funded with money siphoned from the general education pot.

* Help in recruiting qualified teachers and administrators to reduce class size in grades K-3. The district wants federal support of college and university incentive programs to encourage graduates to become teachers.

* Funds to provide Internet computer access in more schools, as well as maintenance dollars to reduce computer downtime in classrooms.

While Riordan and company were making their case Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee took up Bush’s reform bill, known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Some bipartisan ground was forged in committee, but the most heated debate on testing, vouchers and other controversial issues is expected to come later this month on the Senate floor.

In its opening deliberations, the committee approved an amendment that would test teachers and provide merit raises to the best performers. Republicans said it would reward teachers’ achievements. Democrats warned that it would pit teacher against teacher for funding.

At the same time the committee rejected a measure proposed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would have required schools to set aside a portion of their federal funds to improve instructor training.

*

Times education writer Doug Smith and wires services contributed to this story.