LAUSD TAKEOVER BILL STALLS VOTE ON VILLARAIGOSA PLAN LIKELY TO TAKE PLACE MONDAY.

Byline: HARRISON SHEPPARD Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school-takeover legislation hit a wall of resistance Thursday and supporters called off a Senate vote as they scrambled to muster support.

Critics seized on the delay as a sign of faltering support while the mayor's backers downplayed the situation as nothing more than some lawmakers needing more time to digest the controversial legislation.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, admitted he could not muster enough votes to get the bill out of his house, saying several Democratic members had voiced questions or concerns. But he predicted that the votes would be lined up by Monday and it would win approval and move back to the Assembly for final passage.

``It was not ready,'' Perata said. ``(Several legislators) had general questions with the bill and they wanted to get some answers. Rather than keeping everybody here until midnight, which would have no purpose, we'll just take it up Monday.''

Most, if not all, Republicans are expected to vote against the bill, meaning it will most likely need 21 of the 25 Democrats to pass the Senate on a simple majority. If it passes the Senate, it will still need to go through the Assembly before the legislative session ends next Thursday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.

Several Democratic members said their main concern was that they had not had time to read the bill. Although there have been several public hearings and extensive media coverage, the bill was printed in its final form only Wednesday. They also said they had not had a chance to fully discuss the bill in a Democratic caucus meeting.

Opponents said the delay appeared to be a sign of weakness, and an indication that the bill was being rushed through the Legislature under significant political pressure without a thorough vetting.

``I don't know that the members have had a chance to read it or understand it,'' said Los Angeles Unified School District board President Marlene Canter. ``And there's so much political pressure on them, it's become just a political conversation.''

Sen. Dean Florez, D-Bakersfield, plans to vote against the bill. Florez said many of his fellow Democrats have felt pressure from Democratic leadership to support the bill against their better judgment, and some are hoping not to anger the influential and popular Villaraigosa, who is seen as a future gubernatorial candidate.

``It's like `American Idol' politics,'' Florez said. ``Everybody's being moved by who our favorite contestant is. I don't think we should vote on this just because we want to be somebody's friend.''

He opposes the bill, he said, because he does not believe it will help LAUSD students and it doesn't have adequate educational or funding plans. He also thinks it will set a bad precedent for other mayors seeking similar powers.

Florez also noted that Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, a Republican, asked the Legislature for similar control over his schools a year ago, and was quickly rejected. He said if it was any mayor except Villaraigosa, especially a Republican, the proposal would already have been been shot down.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 1381 co-authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, would create a council of mayors that would ratify the hiring of an LAUSD superintendent.

The bill would also create a mayor's community partnership to oversee the lowest-performing schools in the district. It would also strengthen the superintendent while decreasing the school board's role in the daily management of the district.

Romero said she already believes she has the 21 votes she needs.

``Some members wanted to have some extra time to read it, but those would be votes that would be gravy to the roll call,'' Romero said. ``But as far as the votes that we need to move this out, they are there, they're solid.''

Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, has been working to rally Republican opposition and predicted that no GOP members would support it in the Senate. Runner has been particularly critical of a provision in the bill called a ``severability clause'' under which if a court strikes down one portion, the rest remains standing.

Runner argues that the provision would leave in place the least desirable elements of the bill that were the results of compromises with the teachers unions. He had been negotiating with the bill's authors to try to remove that clause, but when those talks failed, he moved to insert an ``inseverability clause.''

Several Republicans who were undecided or considering supporting the bill now appear to have moved into the opposition column. Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, had abstained from voting on the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee because he had not made up his mind. But Thursday he said he was leaning against it.

``I have tried to be open-minded in this whole process, and that accounts for my forbearance in the last committee,'' Poochigian said. ``I wanted to work through it and get a better feel for how it would work. It seems the more we learn, the more questions are raised.''

It was the second time in recent months that the mayor's plan has been in danger.

In June, under an aggressive onslaught of lobbying by union and school board opponents, Nunez was so concerned that he called the mayor and urged him to return to Sacramento to prop up the effort. Villaraigosa's staff quickly put together a trip and he met with lawmakers. He salvaged his effort, but only by abandoning his bid for full control of the LAUSD. Instead, he cut a deal with the teachers unions that would give him greater say, but that falls short of the reform he had sought for the nation's second-largest school district.

Also Thursday, at Los Angeles City Hall, two small groups of parents on opposite sides of the issue staged competing marches.

Staff Writers Rick Orlov and Naush Boghossian contributed to this report.

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com

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