RIORDAN PROFFERS LAUSD PLAN CITY LEADERS QUESTION LEGALITY OF PROPOSALS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Declaring his own war on illiteracy, Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday continued his emphasis on improving city schools in announcing plans for an ambitious five-year, $12.5 million adopt-a-school matching fund program using city dollars.

Riordan's proposals come only weeks after Superintendent of Schools Roy Romer negotiated up to 15 percent pay raises for teachers in a deal that could cost the Los Angeles Unified School District an extra $249 million and force $100 million in cuts from academic programs and textbooks next year and $200 million the following year.

As he winds down his term, Riordan has been pushing on the fronts of crime and education to achieve some gains before leaving office in July.

In a speech at an inner-city elementary school cited for its achievements with students, Riordan also announced plans for the following:

--Create a school construction czar in his office to cut red tape and speed permitting for the new schools needed by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

--Develop a Los Angeles Literacy Corps to tutor students in reading.

--Expand after-school programs modeled after the L.A. Best program to all schools in the city.

``In the multiethnic, multicultural city in which we live - where in some schools nearly 100 languages are spoken - the future of our educational system will be defined by our ability to find new solutions to old problems,'' Riordan told some 200 students, parents and teachers at the Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School near University of Southern California.

``Inaction is no longer an option. Procrastination is no longer a choice. The time for talk is over.''

However, even aides to the mayor - who has less than five months left in his term - acknowledge it will be difficult to do more than attempt to plan the structure for the programs he outlined.

For instance, the mayor's matching fund proposal for the adopt-a-school program rests on whether he can use $2.5 million a year in Department of Water and Power surplus money to match donations from private industry.

Under his proposal, the DWP would match up to $25,000 for 100 schools a year where private businesses commit $5,000 a year for five years.

Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxypayers Association said he was not sure the proposal was legal, since it was a diversion of money for a separate purpose and might require a public vote under Proposition 218.

``This is one of the things that concerns us when government takes money raised from one source and uses it for another,'' Coupal said.

Officials with the City Attorney's Office said they also would have to study the legality and determine if the City Council has to approve the program.

The mayor also announced he was naming noted developer Stuart Ketchum to be his school construction czar to work with the school district to meet its goal of adding seats for 65,000 new students over the next five years. Ketchum was involved with some of the major downtown offices and other projects over the years.

``The joint mission will be to cut red tape, streamline bureaucracy and ensure that proposed construction becomes a reality,'' Riordan said, adding he hopes to also have Ketchum identify potential school sites.

Efforts to contact Ketchum were unsuccessful.

Romer said he welcomed any help the city could provide the district.