School Reform Plans Scaled Back

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that he will postpone his efforts to take over the city’s ailing public school system until more modest reforms he hopes to put in place have a chance to work.

Villaraigosa unveiled the thrust of those reforms Monday at an education symposium in downtown Los Angeles, saying they would focus on ways that city government can improve the learning environment on campuses, including initiatives to make students healthier and safer, among others.

“We have to begin with the question: What can the city of Los Angeles do to support the education of its public schoolchildren?” he said.

Villaraigosa has made reform of the Los Angeles Unified School District a centerpiece of his administration, even though the mayor has no legal influence over the 742,000-student district.

During his campaign, Villaraigosa said he wanted to change that. The mayor, he said, should have “ultimate control and oversight” over the troubled school district. But he has insisted that any takeover would come after collaboration with parents, students, district officials and teachers.

It was in that spirit that the mayor talked generally about his hoped-for reform package Monday in front of a crowd that included district Supt. Roy Romer. “I come today as a partner, not as someone to throw stones,” he said.

Last week, state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) introduced a bill that would allow the mayor to appoint the majority of school board members. The seven members are currently elected by district.

Romero said that she did not consult Villaraigosa or his staff in drafting the bill, and that the mayor has reacted coolly to the legislation.

Villaraigosa told reporters Monday that he supported it “in concept.” But even if the bill passed, he said, it would not allow the mayor to take control of the schools for as many as four years. As a result, Villaraigosa said he wanted to focus “on the areas we can work on now.”

He also said that delaying a mayoral takeover would allow him to build consensus around the idea and help avoid the perception that he was taking over the schools “by executive fiat.”

Villaraigosa said he was still committed to the idea of mayoral control of the school board, though he was vague about the timetable.

“I could tell you this,” he said. “We’re going to put these initiatives on the table. If it becomes clear to me that this school district is unwilling to innovate, unwilling to create a partnership with the city and other strategic partners, if it becomes clear to me that it’s the status quo and the bureaucracy prevailing once again, then it will be time.”

Villaraigosa said that in the short term, the city could do much to help the district, which struggles with low test scores and high dropout rates. He said the city government already is in the education and child-care business, spending $295 million annually on 95 programs aimed at helping youths.

The city, he said, needs to find a way to make sure that investment is being made wisely and is better coordinated with the school district.

The symposium was sponsored by New Schools/Better Neighborhoods, a local group that seeks to transform schools into community meeting places.

Villaraigosa said municipal government could play a part in that transformation by bolstering its focus on safety, student health, truancy and after-school programs.

The details of the proposed collaboration will be hammered out by Villaraigosa’s new education council.

The mayor has not announced the members, but said they will include parents, teachers and education experts. The first meeting is slated for July 27, and he expects the panel to report to him before school starts in September.

A mayoral takeover of the schools has been strongly opposed by the labor union United Teachers Los Angeles. The group’s president, A.J. Duffy, equates it with “replacing one bloated bureaucracy with another.”

Villaraigosa has close ties to the teachers union. He once was an organizer for the union and benefited from television ads that the state teachers association ran on his behalf during the recent campaign.

On Monday, Duffy said the mayor was “wise and prudent” to wait a while. But he said he took the takeover threat seriously.

“I think the only thing that’s going to convince Mayor Villaraigosa is results,” he said. “It is incumbent upon me and others to ensure that we produce results.”

Later this week, Villaraigosa will take up another major theme, improving transportation, during a trip to Washington, D.C. It will be his third trip out of state since winning the election in May.

Spokesman Joe Ramallo said the mayor will be in the capital Wednesday and Thursday to meet with key congressional leaders to argue for funding for regional transportation projects, including a high-occupancy-vehicle lane for the 405 Freeway.

The mayor also will try to persuade legislators to restore proposed cuts in homeland security funds for Los Angeles, Ramallo said.