EDITORIAL PRICEY FIGUREHEAD WITH CORTINES RUNNING THE SHOW, DOES THE LAUSD STILL NEED BREWER?

THE LAUSD's decision to turn over control of day-to-day operations to Ramon Cortines is a smart move. Cortines, a former LAUSD superintendent, has extensive experience in education. He knows how to manage the district's unwieldy bureaucracy. And he's worked closely with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has led the effort to reform L.A.'s schools.

None of which can be said for Superintendent David Brewer III, who has struggled in his first year and a half on the job.

And that raises an uncomfortable question: With Cortines on board, does the Los Angeles Unified School District still need Brewer at all?

According to district officials, with Cortines overseeing the fine points of the nation's second-largest school district, Brewer will be able to turn his attention to the big issues.

But the big issues -- setting the agenda and vision for the future of the LAUSD -- are the responsibility of the school board, not the superintendent. That's why there's a superintendent in the first place, to implement policy so the board doesn't get mired in the details of day-to-day management.

With Cortines effectively at the helm, Brewer's place in the LAUSD now seems a redundancy -- and an expensive one at that.

Brewer earns a base salary of $300,000 a year. He also gets a $45,000 annual expense account. Plus $3,000 a month for housing. And a car -- with a driver. All of which makes Cortines, who's taking $20,000 a year less than the $270,000 the school board offered him, seem like a bargain.

In a school district that's infamous for its bloated and expensive bureaucracy, this should come as little surprise. Bureaucratic redundancies are standard operating procedure in the LAUSD.

But at a time when steep budget cuts threaten the district's core operations, they're inexcusable. With school officials warning of massive teacher layoffs, and with the LAUSD charging kids to use its facilities for after-school activities, a high-paid, hands-off administrator is a luxury the district can't afford.

Admittedly, the school board may have few other options. Brewer is under contract, and historically, L.A. officials who are forced to leave office early usually do so with golden parachutes -- or sue. It may be that keeping Brewer on the payroll is more cost-effective than letting him go, and as usual, L.A. taxpayers are stuck paying the bill for their leaders' mistakes.

Still, when the board awarded Brewer his sweetheart deal a year and a half ago, the justification was that he would be worth every penny. Now, it seems, those pennies won't be buying quite as much as the public had bargained for.