L.A. Board Votes to Form Its Own Commission on Control of Schools

Rejecting a newly proposed City Hall commission to explore governance of city schools, the Los Angeles Board of Education agreed unanimously Tuesday to create its own panel.

The vote comes on the heels of, and in hurried response to, the formation of a commission that angered most school board members. The city’s commission, proposed last month by Board of Education President Jose Huizar and City Council President Alex Padilla, will consider whether city officials should play a larger role in running the traditionally independent Los Angeles Unified School District.

Frustrated by the limited input they would have in forming the city’s commission and concerned that it would succumb to political wrangling, board members said they would participate in the council effort but needed their own panel to study how the district and city can better cooperate.

“It’s very important that we participate,” board member Marlene Canter said. “It would be a bad role model to set: That we didn’t get our way, so we’re not going to play.”

Not wanting to wait until its regularly scheduled meeting next week, the seven-member board took action before the start of a planned closed session at district headquarters.

That meeting came shortly after Supt. Roy Romer delivered his first “state of the schools” address, in which he spoke of the district’s extensive building program and its efforts to improve student performance.

At the board meeting, members agreed to a few details regarding the size and scope of their commission. Along with questions concerning control of the district, it will examine cooperation with the city on such issues as school safety and after-school programs.

Huizar went along reluctantly. “My preference all along has been that we participate in just the joint commission, but ... I am willing to support the desires of the majority because I don’t think the two will conflict with each other,” he said.

Before voting, several board members criticized the 30-member commission formed unanimously by the council last week.

“This was born out of politics and it will end in politics,” said a visibly annoyed board member David Tokofsky.

Padilla dismissed such claims and questioned the timing of the school board’s decision. “What have they been doing for the past five or 10 years?” he asked. “Questions about school safety and after-school programs should have been asked years ago.”

Several board and City Council members said the dual commissions are reminiscent of the late 1990s, when two commissions -- one elected and one appointed -- set to overhaul the City Charter.

“It’s deja vu of charter reform commissions,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

“It was the same issue: the fear of losing power and control. I think it sends a bad message to the kids, the parents, the teachers of the school district that we’re not working together on this and it’s still about whose territory is whose. Now it looks like they want to take their own toys and go to their own sandbox,” she said.

Hours earlier, Mayor James K. Hahn, Padilla and other officials listened as Romer gave his address in the library of an unfinished high school in South Los Angeles.

Romer reviewed the district’s $14-billion school construction project. He reiterated his call for a proposed fourth bond, worth $3.8 billion, that he said is needed to complete the project.

Romer also mentioned plans to restructure the district’s high schools into smaller learning environments, which he said would engage students and lower the district’s daunting dropout rate.

Hahn’s presence was notable in light of Romer’s invitation last week to him and Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who did not attend. The superintendent asked the mayoral candidates to attend after they had become increasingly vocal on education issues.

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Times staff writer Steve Hymon contributed to this report.