CORTINES COULD AID ALLIANCE IN SCHOOL REFORM.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

The appointment of former LAUSD Superintendent Ray Cortines as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's education deputy could defuse the increasingly bitter rhetoric over mayoral reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school district, officials said Tuesday.

Villaraigosa appointed Cortines, 74, on Monday as deputy mayor for Children, Youth and Their Families.

``I hope this will show the district that I am willing to partner with them, to work with them, but also that I am serious about the need to change,'' Villaraigosa said at a news conference Tuesday at the Parsons Foundation's intergenerational center, adjacent to the Memorial Coliseum.

``I have brought in a man who has been an agent of change wherever he has gone.''

Cortines served as interim superintendent at Los Angeles Unified School District from 1999 to 2000. As deputy mayor, he plans to build a coalition of educational, corporate and philanthropic leaders to help reform and support Los Angeles' public schools.

Cortines will be paid $130,000 a year when he assumes his job Aug. 1.

Villaraigosa helped draft legislation, scheduled to be debated next month by the state Senate, that would divert most of the power from the elected school board to the superintendent, who would answer to the mayor. In addition, educators would be responsibile for most budget and curriculum decisions at the local schools.

Cortines said he had not studied the details of Villaraigosa's proposal but said he believes a mayor must play a major role in public education.

He also said he believes he can work with district officials on common goals, even as he pursues Villaraigosa's political effort. Cortines said he already has scheduled appointments with Superintendent Roy Romer, school board President Marlene Canter and United Teachers Los Angeles chief A.J. Duffy.

Romer said he was pleased with the selection of Cortines, noting his experience and the opportunity to put aside their differences.

``I think he will be helpful in terms of forming a better relationship with the mayor,'' Romer said. ``He has a solid understanding of the district and what we are trying to do.''

Canter also praised the selection.

``I have been saying all along that we don't need legislation to form a partnership,'' she said. ``Hopefully, this will help us in a number of other ways. We have been saying there are a number of things the city can do to help us, and Ray will be in charge of bringing those agencies together.''

Duffy said he has met with Cortines and believes the two share some views on the role of teachers and the need to reduce district bureaucracy.

``I think he would be appalled at what has been done with some of his ideas on creating minidistricts and how the bureaucracy has grown at the expense of teaching,'' Duffy said.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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