MAYOR'S SAY-SO IN LAUSD BACKED VILLARAIGOSA BUILDS ON HAHN PROPOSAL.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer Education issues dominated the mayor's race again Thursday with challenger Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. visiting a charter school and declaring the mayor should have direct authority over the city's public schools to spur reform and improve student achievement. Earlier this week, Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California said he would support a charter amendment allowing the mayor to appoint three additional members to the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. board and create five new charter campuses each year. Villaraigosa said he would go even further and would back a charter amendment giving the mayor direct authority over the schools, similar to systems in Chicago and New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . ``I think there is a critical mass of support out there where people want to see one person accountable,'' Villaraigosa said during a news conference at Animo School South in South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. . ``I think that should be the mayor.'' The Eastside councilman also said he would promote the creation of more Parent Teacher Associations, provide on-campus resource centers for parents and encourage parents to sign contracts promising to review homework, attend school functions and support school activities. But Hahn was skeptical of his opponent's plan, saying Villaraigosa is tied too closely to United Teachers Los Angeles - the teachers that endorsed him - to make any effective changes. ``I think it's going to be very difficult for Councilman Villaraigosa to take any position that's at odds with UTLA UTLA United Teachers of Los Angeles (California) because of his long history with them as a union organizer,'' said Hahn, referring to issues like merit pay system for teachers and standardized testing. Their interest in education is new to the candidates, both of whom left the issue to former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg in the primary election. While Hertzberg said proposing a break-up of LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) , Hahn and Villaraigosa each said the mayor should simply use the office to build support and get funding for the district. In addition to proposing greater control over the district, each candidate has also signed a pledge, developed by the Small School Alliance, to work toward a goal of having schools with a maximum of 500 students. Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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