RIORDAN CALLS FOR EDUCATION REVOLUTION.

Byline: Rick Orlov and Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Richard Riordan called Tuesday for a ``revolution'' in Los Angeles public education to reverse the pattern of failure and blamed school board members for many of the problems.

``If you look at the school system, it's a total debacle,'' Riordan said. ``Everything is cut up seven ways even if the needs are greater in one area. Sorry. It's where each elected official is playing to a constituency rather than thinking about the children and each politician is a wanna-be council member, mayor or governor.

``Our economy in the future depends on having a quality, well-educated work force to do the high-tech jobs of the future,'' Riordan said.

``In education, everyone should think in terms of revolution. The time has already passed us by. We cannot tolerate failure. We need to think in terms of revolution for our children. They're our future.''

Riordan said much of the problem was due to electing school board members from districts so that they didn't look at the overall needs of the system.

``We have to change the way government is governed - the whole structure of government,'' he said. ``The law of unintended results started about 15 years ago with the election of politicians by districts in the school system.

Riordan's remarks - his strongest since he declared education was the No. 1 priority of his second term - came during a daylong conference on urban problems sponsored by the Milken Institute. Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, Houston Mayor Bob Lanter and Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith participated.

Los Angeles school board President Julie Korenstein responded to Riordan's remarks by saying the problems with the district did not stem from its representation, but from the state providing ``inadequate funding for years and years and years.''

``What people say is often more about political agendas than the needs of children,'' she said.

``Representative districts are better - at least you've got one area to serve rather than the entire thing,'' Korenstein said. ``If you're really concerned about the needs of children and teachers, it's better to concentrate on a more local district.''

In his remarks, Riordan also went on the offensive against the structure of the Los Angeles city government, which he is trying to reform through rewriting the City Charter.

Like the school district, he said, the City Council with its 15 members is elected by district. In addition, the council has more power than the mayor.

``It's the same way in the city with the power of 15 council members who can override anything the mayor wants to do,'' he said. ``One secret I've found in working in a political atmosphere - I don't have the power of other mayors - is bringing in business people to help solve problems.''

Since first taking office in 1993, Riordan said, he has created some 40 task forces to look at city problems.

``They seem to be able to move the bureaucracy, to keep the politicians at bay and to give cover to make things happen,'' Riordan said.

The mayor cited his efforts to change the City Charter with his support for creating an elected Charter Reform Commission and said a similar effort should be launched to change the school system.

Since winning election to a second term this year, Riordan has strongly emphasized education and has been working to change the direction of the school district.

He has named a special adviser on education, UCLA professor Ted Fields. Another top adviser, Steve Soboroff, serves as president of the Proposition BB Oversight Committee overseeing the disbursement of a $2.4 billion voter-approved bond measure.

The mayor also said he will be demanding changes within the Los Angeles Police Department to increase accountability when he names the new chief next week.