The mayor’s slate

CONSIDERING THE entrenched shortcomings outlined above and demonstrated in recent days, could 90% of voters possibly be so happy with Los Angeles public schools that they feel no urge to change them?

In the March election, just under 10% of registered voters cast ballots for the school board. That turnout belied the depth of the district’s problems, which include dismal campus safety and discipline, high dropout rates, deficiencies in basic education and elemental management failures.

Elected to two seats were incumbent Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte and reformer Yolie Flores Aguilar. Two more seats went to a runoff election that will be held Tuesday.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been stymied in his legal effort to gain a governing hand in the district, now seeks leverage through a friendly school board. The board already includes two mayoral allies, Flores Aguilar and Monica Garcia, who won her seat last year. Both of the mayor’s favored candidates -- Tamar Galatzan (District 3) and Richard Vladovic (District 7) -- would have to win Tuesday to give him a majority.

This would be a welcome change for schools that have atrophied under an ineffective, slow-moving board. With a mayor intent on making education a centerpiece of his job, and a new superintendent who shows promise, the stars are aligned for progress at L.A. Unified.

What it needs now is a new board majority, moving forward with purpose and urgency and with the students’ needs topmost in their minds.

Electoral miasma poses real danger to that hope. Many school district employees are wary of the mayor’s efforts, and they can be counted on to vote. In a low-turnout election, they could kill reform. Villaraigosa himself has contributed to that quandary. The mayor usually has a keen eye for talent, but of his school picks this year, only Flores Aguilar stands out as an exciting, independent-minded thinker.

Yet Galatzan and Vladovic are clearly better choices than their opponents, both because they are more eager for quick reform and because they will work well with a mayor who can bring new energy, resources and coherence to turning the schools around. The children of LAUSD already have been waiting too long. Now it’s up to voters to end the wait.