EDITORIAL UNITED FOR REFORM? MAYOR, SUPERINTENDENT JOIN FORCES TO CHANGE LAUSD.

EVEN though the Los Angeles school board selected the new schools superintendent without consulting the mayor, that hasn't stopped David Brewer III and Antonio Villaraigosa from joining in what can only be called a reform-minded lovefest.

At their first weekly meeting last week, it was all smiles and good cheer. Villaraigosa called Brewer his ``good friend,'' and gushed that by the meeting's end, they were ``finishing each other's sentences.''

But more important, this pair is seemingly united on the needs of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

``I'm now even more certain there's a meeting of the minds when it comes to reform at L.A. Unified,'' Villaraigosa said. Or as Brewer put it, ``The mayor and I are going to transform this school district.''

The two have agreed to push for an audit of the LAUSD bureaucracy and a performance review of its teachers -- two reforms that the board and other LAUSD insiders have long resisted.

This is a hopeful sign that Brewer will be truly independent of the board that hired him. And perhaps, working with his good friend the mayor, the two can begin the process of turning the LAUSD around.