Officials Clash Over Adult Literacy Plan

State Senate majority leader Richard Polanco has waged a behind-the-scenes campaign for a $6.3-million adult literacy program in Los Angeles schools, sparking a public clash with district Supt. Roy Romer.

The efforts by Polanco (D-Los Angeles) also raised questions about whether he violated the state’s open meeting law in pitching the program to school board members.

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s inspector general said Wednesday that he would launch an investigation into that.

Polanco, who had met privately with school board members on the issue over the last year, announced Tuesday that he “was counting votes” for a contract with Reality Based Learning, a Redmond, Wash., company that sells Internet educational programs.

His statement at the school board meeting and the board’s 4-3 approval of the contract set off political shock waves in the district. Romer denounced Polanco’s actions, and Polanco responded angrily.

Their exchange raised concerns among some in the district that the episode could hurt L.A. Unified’s relationships in Sacramento.

Critics of the contract said that its supporters on the school board wanted to curry favor with Polanco, whose influence is important in many of Los Angeles’ heavily Latino communities and in the current redrawing of board members’ district boundaries.

Board members who voted yes said Polanco’s political power played no role in their decisions. The senator denied that his actions broke any rules.

The board approved the contract to institute the program at seven adult schools even though district lawyers warned them that Polanco’s private meetings might have violated the state Brown Act’s regulations on how a public agency can develop a consensus on a policy. Those meetings may have been the type of serial sessions the law prohibits, the attorneys said.

Romer said he was amazed by Polanco’s “gall” and accused the senator of trying to muscle a single company past competitive bidding.

“This is not the way to do business,” Romer told Polanco at Tuesday’s meeting. “There is nobody in this staff recommending that we buy into this program.”

Polanco said the district was not spending enough on adult literacy in immigrant communities and that the Internet program would offer a valuable service for parents trying to learn English.

“I’m not interested to have a public fight with you, but you chose the public fight,” he told Romer. Polanco later said that he has no financial interest in the program and that his main concern is to help immigrant families better themselves.

At one point during the contentious hearing, Romer told Polanco to sit down. The senator complied but then returned to the lectern and refused to cede it.

The vote spotlighted weaknesses in the district’s procurement operation that allows contractors direct access to board members, Romer said.

“I’m not just worried about the money, I’m worried about what this does to the ethics of this district,” he said.

Polanco said he learned about the literacy program from its chief executive, Gary Anderson, last year in Sacramento. The senator said 40,000 schoolchildren in Washington and Canada use the program.

“There is no other contractor that has this technology,” he said.

But school district staff found several problems with the Reality Based Learning program and recommended against it.

In a report to Romer, staffers said the literacy materials were not geared to adults, and would have to be retooled at district expense. They also determined that the materials did not fit the state’s academic standards for students who speak limited English.

Trustee Genethia Hayes, who introduced the motion for the contract, said she considered the proposal in part to patch up a rocky relationship with Polanco. But Hayes said she voted for it on its merits.

“I think it holds great promise for Latino parents, Korean parents, any parents trying to transition themselves into English,” she said.

In addition to Hayes, board members David Tokofsky, Julie Korenstein and Jose Huizar voted for the materials. Board President Caprice Young and board members Marlene Canter and Mike Lansing voted no.

Polanco began visiting the school board members about a year ago, taking Anderson along.

The senator said he did not pressure anyone to vote for the contract, and he insisted that the meetings did not violate the Brown Act because he never met with more than one board member at a time.

But L.A. Unified lawyers say the meetings could pose a legal problem. The law prohibits officials from a series of individual meetings with “personal intermediaries” to develop a consensus on a measure before them.

“What raises concerns is that Polanco was collecting votes on a specific motion that was pending before the board,” said Hal Kwalwasser, the district’s general counsel.

Several district officials questioned why Polanco was so aggressive in pitching the program from the beginning.

Canter, who ran a teacher training business for several years before she joined the board, said she was unimpressed.

“I didn’t like the program from the beginning,” she said.