Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issues 52 proposals for bringing about sweeping reform
While Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s legislatively sanctioned school takeover bid is tied up in litigation, he has issued a list of 52 proposals for bringing about sweeping reform of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The proposals include ending promotions of failing students, requiring school uniforms, and bringing in outsiders to help transform schools. His education blueprint constitutes a fall-back position in case the courts rule against his efforts to gain a measure of control over LAUSD. The recommendations, known as the "Schoolhouse" policy framework, are part of a second front, along with gaining a friendly school board by supporting candidates in the March elections. The recommendations will require a massive infusion of money and expertise, both of which are in limited supply. In addition, many of his proposals, such as the call for smaller schools and a return from multitrack calendars to a traditional schedule, are currently being utilized by LAUSD with limited success. "Many of the initiatives are basically already being implemented," says LAUSD Superintendent David L. Brewer. "The mayor needs to help me find more money for these initiatives." The mayor’s policy paper breaks down the challenge of improving schools into six areas that need attention, which include high expectations, safe schools, empowered leadership, rigorous curriculum, family and community involvement, and more money to schools. The paper asserts teachers, principals, and other school staff should be paid more and class sizes should be reduced. Mayor Villaraigosa believes these two goals could be met by streamlining central support operations and increasing daily student attendance, the basis for state education funding. The leaders of the United Teachers Los Angeles are enthusiastically endorsing the recommendations. His blueprint also calls for moving more money and resources away from the central administration to schools and giving campuses greater authority over their resources. The recommendations mirror the approach advocated in the education law currently being challenged in court by the school board.
Meanwhile, state senator George Runner is proposing legislation that would reorganize the LAUSD into about 15 districts of no more than 50,000 students each. "We believe once you start getting over 50,000, you begin to go down that same track of not being size-efficient, and you start losing accountability to the parents and community," he says. The bill is identical to one that Sen. Runner and former state assemblyman Keith Richman introduced last year that was blocked in committee and then set aside as the mayor's plan gained momentum. While Sen. Runner believes that the mayor’s appeal will fail and that breaking up LAUSD is the best reform available, state assembly speaker Fabian Nuñez, who co-authored the mayor's LAUSD bill, disagrees. "In this case, smaller isn't beautiful," says Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Mr. Nuñez. "It would be an administrative nightmare, invite dozens of lawsuits, possibly affect desegregation plans worked out long ago, and create dozens of new fiefdoms." The mayor believes his appeal will succeed and is focusing on reforming rather than breaking up the district. School board president Marlene Canter also opposes the proposed break up bill, noting the district is in the middle of a massive building program. "Timing is everything, and this is not the right time as far as I'm concerned," she says.
Los Angeles Times
By Duke Helfand and Joel Rubin
[Full story]
Los Angeles Daily News
By Harrison Sheppard
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: The mayor’s proposal is below. For background, including a summary of the court decision striking down the takeover legislation, see the second link.]
[The Schoolhouse report]
[NSBA School Law pages on Mendoza v. State of Calif.]