MAYOR'S OPPONENTS SAY AMENDMENTS HURT BILL.

Byline: HARRISON SHEPPARD Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO -- Opponents of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school-takeover plan said Tuesday that amendments added to the bill only make it worse, raising more questions about accountability and legality.

Visiting Sacramento on another lobbying trip against the bill, Los Angeles Unified school board President Marlene Canter and General Counsel Kevin Reed said the new version lowers accountability, increases bureaucracy and reflects a lack of knowledge about school laws and procedures.

An amendment removing legal and financial liability from the city for decisions by the mayor's partnership overseeing the lowest-performing schools means the city and the mayor won't be responsible for problems they may cause, Reed said.

``The city of Los Angeles and the mayor will have no liability for those acts and that misconduct,'' Reed said.

Also, giving the council of mayors review power over the district budget will slow down the budget process, adding another layer of bureaucracy and making it more difficult to get a budget on time, he said.

During a press conference, Reed and Canter were joined in their opposition by the California School Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators, Los Angeles 10th district PTSA President Scott Folsom and West Hollywood City Councilman Jeff Prang, representing the interests of some of the other cities in the district.

Nathan James, spokesman for the mayor's political committee formed to promote the school measure, said the liability protection is no different than the mayor receives by serving as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. The mayor is an MTA board member, but he and the city of Los Angeles are not legally responsible for the consequences of those decisions -- the MTA itself is.

``This is just one of the many red herrings the district has thrown up in an attempt to block any efforts at reform,'' James said.

Regarding Reed's comments on the budget, James said the school board can review the budget at the same time as the council of mayors, meaning there shouldn't be any significant loss of time in the process.

Meanwhile, several Republican critics of the mayor's plan said they don't expect it to get any support from their Republican colleagues.

Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, and Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, support breaking up the district. But Richman said if there is going to be some form of mayoral control, it would have to be full control, rather than the mayor's compromise proposal.

``It isn't going to get any Republican support either in the Senate or the Assembly, the way it's currently drafted,'' Richman said. ``My understanding is the (Republican) caucuses are strongly behind the position that George Runner and I have.''

Democratic leaders, including Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, are behind the bill, but are working to line up members.

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com

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