MAYOR FINDS ALLY IN CAPITOL ARNOLD `100 PERCENT' BEHIND VILLARAIGOSA'S LAUSD PLAN.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard and Rick Orlov Staff Writers

Setting the stage for a fierce fight with the unions and other allies of Los Angeles Unified, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he is ``100 percent'' behind Mayor Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to revolutionize the school district.

Top Democratic legislative leaders -- Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles -- tentatively gave the plan a positive reception, while unions geared up to try to stymie legislation the mayor needs to proceed with his six-year experiment with an education czar running the schools instead of the school board.

Schwarzenegger, who also supports breaking up the district, applauded the mayor for showing ``bold leadership.''

``This is exactly the kind of thing that ought to be done,'' Schwarzenegger said at a Capitol news conference. ``I'm 100 percent behind him on this. If there's a bill that comes down here, I will sign that because we want to help him in that move.

``Because we all know it is inexcusable that we have more than 30 percent of our students drop out of school. That is not what education is supposed to be.''

Villaraigosa kept up his campaign for reform during an event in L.A.'s Chinatown.

``I fully expect this to be a battle,'' he said. ``Make no mistake about it. It will be an uphill battle.

``But I've been in those before and I am prepared to do what it takes to make this happen.''

During his State of the City address Tuesday night, Villaraigosa proposed creating a Council of Mayors that would hire a district superintendent who would have broad powers over the district's operations and the education it provides its 727,000 students. The elected board of education would continue to serve, but with limited powers over discipline of students and working with parents.

The effort would require state legislation, though probably not a vote by residents in the nation's second-largest school district.

The strongest opposition to the plan is expected to come from the district's school board, the teachers union and its allies, which believe the proposal would give the mayor too much power over budgeting and other issues.

The California Teachers Association, one of the most influential groups in Sacramento, will be actively working with United Teachers Los Angeles to oppose the mayor's efforts. CTA President Barbara Kerr said the proposal would distract from the real goal of trying to improve education.

``We are opposed to mayoral takeover in any form,'' Kerr said. ``We believe that the best efforts of the mayor and L.A., UTLA and LAUSD is to reach common goals on things they can do to help students.''

The California School Boards Association also expects to actively oppose the mayor. Executive Director Scott Plotkin said the mayor should stick to issues already within his jurisdiction, such as making sure schools are in safe environments.

``It's such great theater to be able to go after bureaucrats and administrators and have a lot of nonsensical conversation about this sort of thing instead of what is really going on in schools,'' Plotkin said.

``I don't know how he's going to do anything different than what (Superintendent) Roy Romer and the board have been doing for years.''

Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, is carrying the legislation for the mayor. She has submitted the mayor's proposals to the state's legislative counsel office, which will put it into bill form.

She hopes to introduce the bill by next week.

``We understand there will be opposition but it's the mayor's job and the Legislature's job to do big things and take on many challenging policy issues in this state,'' said Romero aide Nicole Winger.

Perata, the leader of the Senate, said he supports the mayor's general idea but noted he has yet to discuss it with his Democratic caucus, where there is expected to be some opposition, particularly from those with close labor ties.

Perata sees it as similar to a state-authorized takeover of Oakland schools several years ago, which has been judged to be a success.

Nunez, who worked three years as the LAUSD's director of government affairs, said he expects the plan to go through extensive hearings in Sacramento and Los Angeles, and he expects to be ``play a very active role'' in the issue.

``I haven't had an opportunity to study it, but I will say the initiative that the mayor of Los Angeles is taking to want to improve our public schools in L.A. is a very good thing,'' Nunez said. ``People ought not be threatened by that.''

Like Villaraigosa, Nunez has traditionally been a strong ally of the state's labor unions, but the speaker said he would not have a problem disagreeing with the unions on this issue.

A spokeswoman for Romer said there are some aspects of the mayor's plan that he approves.

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