MAYOR, RIVALS RENEW LAUSD FIGHT UP NORTH.

Byline: HARRISON SHEPPARD Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returned to the Capitol on Monday in an effort to rescue his troubled strategy to overhaul Los Angeles Unified, even as school district leaders lobbied state lawmakers to kill the plan.

The hastily planned trip came after Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, warned that teachers unions and school board members had persuaded key legislators to oppose a bill that would allow the Mayor's Office to take control.

``I will not be deterred in this effort,'' Villaraigosa said during a break from meetings with lawmakers and interest groups, including the powerful California Teachers Association.

``There is too much at stake. These kids are too important.''

Even as the mayor met with lawmakers, Superintendent Roy Romer, school board President Marlene Canter and board member Mike Lansing roamed the same Capitol halls. Armed with color charts and fliers, they detailed improvements in achievement test scores, declining dropout rates and the recent national Academic Decathlon championship by Taft High School.

Romer also had harsh words for the mayor's plan, and accused him of trying to save face now that his original strategy is foundering.

``What I hear is that, OK, you're not going to get your original program done, now we've got to find a way to get this thing off the table,'' Romer said at a news conference.

``That's what I hear from a lot of sophisticated politicians in this town: `We gotta get this issue solved; we can't embarrass the mayor.' I don't want to embarrass the mayor either, but I'm more concerned about the children of Los Angeles than I am the mayor's reputation.''

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles and chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee, said she and Villaraigosa discussed the possibility of a compromise that would give the mayor more influence -- but not full control.

``I said influence is not necessarily taking the role of the school board members and the superintendent over,'' Goldberg said. ``He agreed that maybe it was possible that something short of that would be OK. We were not trying to convince each other.''

Mayoral spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said Villaraigosa is considering and discussing many ideas, but is not backing off from his original proposal or actively pursuing a compromise.

Villaraigosa's plan calls for the creation of a council of mayors representing all the cities in the district. The council would have the power to hire and fire the district superintendent, who would be given increased powers to oversee the day-to-day operations of the district. The current school board would exist in a diminished capacity.

Villaraigosa's proposal is contained in a bill authored by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. The bill has been submitted to the state legislative counsel, but has yet to return to the Legislature in final form.

One of the mayor's key meetings was with Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, chairman of the Senate Education committee, who met with Canter last week. He said he has yet to make up his mind on the issue of mayoral control.

``I'm going to ask one hard question: What do I think is in the best interest of those students who attend the Los Angeles Unified School District?'' Scott said.

``I have on occasions gone against CTA (California Teachers Association) and other organizations, because I don't feel automatically that the best interest of the employees and the best interest of the students are the same. I'm going to have to look at what I think would make for a better school district.''

About two dozen parents gathered at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank around 4 a.m. Monday to protest the mayor and his plan as he left for Sacramento. The group, however, was misinformed because Villaraigosa flew out of the city-owned Los Angeles International Airport.

Protest leader Scott Folsom, president of the Los Angeles 10th District PTSA, said he and other parents traveled to New York City recently to talk with parents there about mayoral control of the schools.

``What we're seeing is parents completely disenfranchised,'' Folsom said. ``The expression they use is they've all been kicked to the curb.''

Villaraigosa, however, insisted that his plan would give parents a greater voice and control over their local schools.

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com

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