Making Education a Priority Just a Good Sound Bite for Politicians

Perched atop Mike Lansing’s desk at the Boys & Girls Club of San Pedro is a wooden carving that says, “No Excuses,” a challenge to himself more than to the kids.

The club’s executive director brings this attitude to his other job too, where the fate of 736,000 children is in his hands, and where, last week, Lansing did something that pained him greatly.

Lansing and his mates on the Los Angeles school board whacked $384.6 million out of the budget, knowing it will hurt children.

The last thing Lansing wanted to do was cast a vote to stuff even more kids into overcrowded classes, taking the number to 40 in some cases. But he did.

“Some board members didn’t want to face reality. But if the house is burning, you can either pull out a hose or you can run around saying there’s no fire,” Lansing said.

How many times have you read the story of the great morass? The last two cities I lived in--New York and Philadelphia--were no better off. The schools made occasional strides that were soon swamped by waves of new challenges.

If there is a greater collective failure in American society than the state of public education, it has not been brought to my attention.

The economy, the quality of life, flight from cities, segregation, the crime rate in your neighborhood--all these things are tied to the quality of public education in the richest country on Earth. And yet despite the stakes, we can’t get it right. Can’t even get close.

I went to see Lansing, a solid, quiet sort of guy who doesn’t look for headlines, to see if he could explain why.

I already knew some of the answers. I knew, for instance, that school boards often attract a mutant strain of public official less interested in serving children than in launching or preserving a political career.

Tune into an L.A. board meeting on public television and in two blinks, you’ll realize two or three of the seven board members are the kind of clowns who are there to dole out contracts to political hucksters, and who don’t go to the bathroom before checking in with union bosses or other hacks.

Then there’s the larger problem, which Lansing sums up with a well-aimed question.

“Why are we even having to deal with cuts, given that every politician lists public education as a No.1 priority?”

Bull’s eye on that one. Gray Davis promises he’s the education governor. George Bush vows that no child will be left behind. One politician after another, for decades, has checked the polls and promptly reduced the challenge of education to a neat little sound bite, only to run for the hills when it comes time to pay up.

Not that money is the answer, says Lansing, who, for the record, thinks L.A. city schools have done reasonably well given the challenges. But he opens his wallet and takes out a newspaper clipping that says California flunks out in a national ranking of spending per pupil, coming in third from the bottom.

How this can happen in the richest state and the world’s fifth-largest economy, one steeped in technology and dependent on an educated work force, is beyond Lansing. But to blame failure on government or politicians would be to make excuses, violating Lansing’s sacred principle.

The rest of society, with its something-for-nothing, Proposition 13 mentality, is just as guilty, he says.

“The responsibility for public education is something everyone has to take on, because it’s the only chance for children of need and color to get an equal opportunity. Yes, we’ve got to do a better job as a district and a board, and teachers have to do a better job. We can’t just say there’s not enough money and throw our hands up.

“But there’s more to teaching children than what happens from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. I’m talking about the Boys and Girls clubs and other groups that extend the learning day for children. This generation isn’t making sacrifices for its children. We’re all getting fat and sassy, and while individual wealth has risen greatly, people are less involved in community issues and events.”

If you’re a parent, Lansing suggests you do something other than slap lunch money on the table or ask the kiddies how school was today. “If more parents were involved in meaningful ways, public education would be transformed overnight,” Lansing says.

Even if you’re not a parent, vote for the bond issue this November to finance new schools. Better yet, become a tutor, teach a kid to read, put in some time on career day.

No excuses.

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Steve Lopez writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Reach him at steve.lopez@latimes .com.