MAYOR GETS SCHOOL OVATION FRIENDLY CROWD FILLS AUDITORIUM NEAR HIS OLD HOME.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

Making his case before a crowd of avid supporters in the neighborhood where he grew up, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a final pitch Tuesday night for his school district reform bill, whose fate will likely be determined by the end of this month.

Speaking in East Los Angeles at the fourth and final town-hall meeting to market his plan to gain more control over the Los Angeles Unified School District, the mayor said before he took the stage that ending his tour at the all-girls Sacred Heart High School was meaningful to him because both his mother and sister attended the school and he represented the area, whose residents he greeted with a simple buenas noches.

The event also capped a significant effort to reach out to communities throughout L.A. that resulted, he said, in massive input and support for his legislation, Assembly Bill 1381. Other town-hall meetings were in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and Westwood.

``I think there was a reason why we wanted to end here,'' he said. ``There's a great deal of support for education reform in these neighborhoods and for me. This is a neighborhood that is passionate about their kids.''

AB 1381 would shift authority from the school board to the superintendent, give the mayor a significant role in the district and give local school sites greater control over budget, instruction and curriculum.

The eastside town hall boasted one of the largest crowds of all the meetings, with about 1,000 people enduring a stuffy auditorium without air conditioning.

East L.A. resident Paul Medina said while the district is making moderate gains in improving student achievement and pushing forward on a massive school-construction program, the legislation is the best chance to curb the high dropout rate and gang problem in inner-city schools.

``I didn't get a lot of good preparation for college -- there's not a lot of funding to prepare us for that -- and the education is too shaky, and there are a lot of people dropping out and joining gangs,'' said Medina, 19, who graduated two years ago from nearby Lincoln High School, where just 324 of his class of 1,000 graduated.

``I think he (the mayor) came back to my community to say: I haven't forgotten my promises, and I'm going to execute what I promised to you.''

State and local leaders attended the meeting to urge support for the legislation,now called the Sen. Gloria Romero Educational Reform Act of 2006. Romero was there, as were Councilmen Ed Reyes and Jose Huizar, as well as the only school board member supporting the bill, newly elected Monica Garcia.

Garcia said the district has made some gains in achievement and facilities construction, but that there was no plan in place for rapid and significant gains in coming years, and the district's current structure reflects inability to respond to the changing needs of communities, she added.

``The district must move forward with an aggressive plan, ... and frankly I don't think we have a comprehensive plan. ... The plan is just not there,'' she said. ``This (the mayor's) is the only viable plan that has been presented for structural change ... and will help us reinvent public education in this city and in LAUSD.''

But while the meeting attracted mostly Villaraigosa supporters -- and both the Greater East Los Angeles and Encino chambers of commerce announced support Tuesday for the bill -- about two dozen opponents picketed before the meeting.

Former and current students of LAUSD and members of By Any Means Necessary, a group that defends affirmative-action integration and immigrant rights, said the mayor knew he didn't have the support of the eastside community, which is why he bypassed putting it to a public vote.

Organizers from the Coalition for Community Control Over Education argued that it was undemocratic to allow communities outside Los Angeles to decide on a change in governance of L.A. schools.

``Currently, LAUSD unites a vast array of diverse ethnic groups in L.A., and there are greater shared resources and opportunities,'' protest organizer Hoku Jeffrey said. ``We have an elected school board with full authority, and Mayor Villaraigosa's plan will only lead to the breakup of the school district and the ghettoization of L.A. public schools.''

Huizar called the protesters a minority who do not reflect the will of the community at large.

``There's a huge silent majority that wants reform and hasn't been heard from,'' he said. ``If you look at the demographics here, you have a lot of working parents who are not here now.''

Romero said there are hundreds of bills in the Legislature that affect L.A. Unified that are not put to a public vote, but she said AB 1381 has received enough scrutiny to provide legislators with information to make an informed decision toward the end of the month.

``In a democracy, people are going to respond in different ways,'' she said. ``No other piece of legislation has received the attention and scrutiny this has.''

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Andie Rubio, 17, is among opponents Tuesday outside a town-hall meeting on the mayor's school-reform plan, while Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addresses avid supporters inside.

(2) The audience, including some members who stand up, applauds the arrival of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in East Los Angeles for a town-hall meeting Tuesday on school reform.

Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News