ANTONIO TO APPOINT TOP LAUSD OFFICIALS?

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

Los Angeles would become the only city in California in which the mayor could appoint the school superintendent and members of the school board under a bill introduced Friday by state Sen. Gloria Romero.

The Los Angeles Democrat offered Senate Bill 767 in response to the call of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for authority to appoint school board members - an issue he raised in his campaign and reiterated at a public hearing last month conducted by Romero just days before he was sworn into office.

Changing the governance of the Los Angeles Unified School District to allow - not mandate - mayoral responsibility is the only way to address the ``crisis'' at their public schools, Romero said in an interview.

``I recognize this bill is willing to think outside the box, and I'm willing to stir it up. This is an opportunity for us to think big,'' said Romero, citing dropout rates of more than 30 percent and schools with Academic Performance Index scores in the bottom deciles of the state.

``It's not about control. It's about accountability. This is about saying we need to set the bar high. How many more classes of students are we willing to sacrifice until we have the courage to say that we can do better?''

Villaraigosa said he had not seen details of the Romero proposal but met Friday with Superintendent Roy Romer to discuss what steps could be taken to make immediate improvements in the school district.

``My first steps will be to work with parents, teachers and the school district to improve school performance, raise graduation rates and free students of any threat of violence,'' the mayor said.

Romer welcomed debate on the governance of the LAUSD but argued that the bill set impossible standards.

``It's kind of like calling it a failure because you can't run a four-minute mile,'' Romer said. ``I think it sets a goal you can't reach.''

During the mayoral campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported the call to break up the LAUSD that was raised by former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, now a top adviser to Villaraigosa.

If passed, the measure would take effect Jan. 1. It stipulates that upon the finding of ``educational failure,'' the school board would be expanded from seven to nine members and the mayor could fill vacancies by appointment.

The appointment of a school board member or the superintendent would be subject to approval by a majority vote of the City Council.

The bill outlines three criteria that the LAUSD must meet to avoid being deemed an ``educational failure'':

--The district's base score on the API is at or above 675.

--The district has achieved adequate yearly progress as required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act for two consecutive years.

--The dropout rate in each of four consecutive years is below 20 percent.

The LAUSD currently fails on each of the standards.

The district's 2004 scores on the API rose to 635. In 2004 nearly 70 percent of the LAUSD's 480 elementary schools met adequate yearly progress goals, compared with only 8 percent of middle schools and 19 percent of high schools. And the LAUSD has a four-year dropout rate of 33 percent, officials said.

Romero, who is chairwoman of the state's Senate Select Committee on Urban School Governance, argued that the superintendent's acknowledgment of poor performance is reason enough to allow the mayor to take over responsibility for the district.

She cited the cities of New York, Boston and Chicago as positive examples of mayors appointing school board members. Oakland experimented with a hybrid school board with both elected and appointed members, but that failed.

``Doesn't that tell you we have a crisis? If they're saying we're down there now, that's explicit acknowledgment that the district has failed,'' she said. ``We can't afford to wait to say, `Let's tinker with the bar.'''

The district's high schools improved their API scores from about 540 in 1999 to more than 600 in 2004; middle schools moved up from about 510 to about 610 in that time; and elementary schools shot up from 520 to 700.

``Don't label us an educational failure,'' Romer said. ``We're a success.''

The Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance, which was recently set up by school board member Jose Huizar and City Council President Alex Padilla, held its first meeting Thursday on how to fix the LAUSD. A report is due in January.

``I believe there is not sufficient accountability of board members to do the job we're doing,'' Huizar said. ``Seven part-time board members are overseeing the largest public works program in the country at $14.4 billion and an operating budget larger than most countries at $6.65 billion.''

Board members Jon Lauritzen and Julie Korenstein, both closely aligned with the teachers union, challenged the Romero proposal, noting that the LAUSD encompasses 27 cities or parts of cities.

``It disenfranchises a lot of cities,'' Korenstein said. ``It's a very slippery slope.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com