Sparks fly at forum.

L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and L.A. Superintendent of Schools Roy Romer traded barbs at a local forum last week over the state of L.A.'s schools.

Speaking at the semi-annual California State Forum, Antonovich said the L.A. Unified School District was full of "failed schools" that were not preparing children for the future and that children in the LAUSD's jurisdiction should be given the option to enroll in other neighboring school districts.

Romer took issue.

"When I took this job three years ago, I inherited a district that many characterized as a failure," he said. "But some of the things Mike said are greatly exaggerated. We now have $13.2 billion in funding for new schools and we are building more new schools in one city than at any time in the history of this country. I call that quite an achievement."

After comments from City Controller Laura Chick about a "crisis in confidence" in city government due to the perception of a "pay-to-play" mentality, Romer said of the LAUSD: "I'm running this operation and I can tell you there is absolutely no 'pay-to-play' in this organization."

Romer defended recent allegations reported by the Business Journal that contractors were invited to fundraising events for Measure R, the $3.87 billion school construction bond measure passed by voters on March 2.

"No one who gave funds to Measure R is a contractor who has done business with the district," Romer said. "When I found out four months ago that someone had approached a contractor about raising funds for the bond measure, I put a stop to it right away and even called in the inspector general."

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 227, or at [e-mail].