Sunday, July 30, 2006

The debate joined, the public engaged.



4LAKids: Sunday, July 30, 2006
In This Issue:
Assembly Ed Committee Hearing on AB 1381: L.A. MAYOR GRILLED OVER SCHOOL TAKEOVER PLAN + SOUTHEAST CITIES OFFERED SCHOOL SAY
MAYOR RAISES $1 MILLION-PLUS FOR LAUSD BILL
Beyond LA: VILLARAIGOSA'S TAKEOVER ATTEMPT WOULD HAVE DANGEROUS REPERCUSSIONS + LAUSD REFORM BID SNUBS PUBLIC INPUT
MAYOR TO HIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT ENVOY + CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE TAKES NO POSITION ON LAUSD TAKEOVER PLAN
CALIFORNIA'S LOW-INCOME SCHOOLS TO GET HIGH-TECH WINDFALL
EVENTS: PUBLIC MEETINGS THIS WEEK ABOUT AB 1381
What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
READING TO KIDS: Read to some kids the second Saturday morning each month. Make a difference. Change some lives (including your own!).
The Blueprint for Effective School Reform: MAKING SCHOOLS WORK — Get the Book @ Amazon.com!
THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee's series "Paying for Schools."
FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target one nickel from every federal tax dollar for Education.
Thursday evening saw the 'almost only' legislative hearing in LA on AB 1381 (at the hearing it was announced that Senators Richman and Runner will host their own hearing in the San Fernando Valley next week).

The hearing, which started at 5:30PM and ended five hours later – well past the bedtimes of many and the deadlines for the Times and Daily News – was at times eventful, engrossing, gross, raucous, crowded, informative, repetitive and exasperating. It was always hot in all senses of the word; the auditorium's air conditioning was not up to the challenge of the day and the event! The Times reporter ("… more than 400 people.") must have counted the sign-ins or number of speakers ….not the house! The Irving Middle School auditorium was near capacity with many milling outside and in the foyer. Though 700+ IS more than 400!

All the players were there: The Mayor and his attorney, The Superintendent and his, Speaker Nuñez and Senator "Don't call me Ms." Romero (AB 1381 authors-of-record, Tom Saenz – Mayor Villaraigosa's counsel being the acknowledged ghostwriter); Board President Canter and a quorum of the Board, Governance Commission Chair Casillas and a trio from that group, both PTA District Presidents (see link to our comments below), Mayors and City Councilpeople from other LAUSD cities, Councilman Huizar, Committee Chair Goldberg, Assemblyperson Liu, more LAUSD senior staff ever seen in one place outside of the Beaudry elevator lobby, at least six reputed candidates to be the next LAUSD Superintendent, the media ― and parents, teachers, principals, union leaders, politicos, students and just-plain-folks. Stakeholders from across the District: The debate joined, the public engaged.

Notable no show: Ramon Cortines, the Mayor's new Education Czar. He doesn't start 'till August 1.

The outcome? Who knows. Chairman Jackie Goldberg summed it up best: The opinion in the room and city is divided; there are more questions than answers, more complications than can be solved with a silver bullet. If this is a battle with winners and losers – everyone – especially the kids – will loose. A meeting of the minds building on common ground is preferable to the knock out and drag out fight that lies ahead.

Hopefully the right people heard her …though a number of them left early. ―smf


PTA in LA Speaks Out: The remarks to the committee by PTA District Presidents Ross & Folsom.



Assembly Ed Committee Hearing on AB 1381: L.A. MAYOR GRILLED OVER SCHOOL TAKEOVER PLAN + SOUTHEAST CITIES OFFERED SCHOOL SAY
►L.A. MAYOR GRILLED OVER SCHOOL TAKEOVER PLAN: 400 residents and officials of smaller cities under Los Angeles Unified rule express their concerns at a public hearing.

by Howard Blume, LA Times Staff Writer

July 28, 2006 — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school reform plan received its first and only local public vetting Thursday evening in a sometimes raucous hearing where Los Angeles residents addressed state lawmakers, who will have the final say.

Perhaps the most significant blow was landed by officials from neighboring cities, who announced their opposition to legislation that would give Villaraigosa substantial authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District. Parts or all of the cities fall within the boundaries of the Los Angeles school system.

The early evening gathering, convened by state Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), played out before an audience of more than 400 people, some of them recruited for the event, and undecided parents and community members at Washington Irving Middle School north of downtown.

The worst moment for Villaraigosa probably occurred before the hearing, at a news conference called by officials who said they represented the perspective of the cities other than Los Angeles that are within the boundaries of the L.A. school system.

A small retinue of council members and mayors announced, one after another, their view that Villaraigosa's plan gave the L.A. mayor authority at their expense.

"Mayor Villaraigosa is good for the city of Los Angeles, but not for the city of San Fernando," said San Fernando Councilwoman Maribel De La Torre.

Villaraigosa's plan would supplant key functions of the elected Board of Education with a council of mayors, but he would control 80% of the vote because 80% of L.A. Unified students live in Los Angeles. Earlier in the day, his aides had argued that the neighboring cities still would be getting a better deal than they currently have: The latest version of the legislation, unveiled today, offers cities in southeast Los Angeles County an opportunity to take direct control of some of their schools — an option that some of the city officials had not yet seen.

"We are just not going to have any meaningful say and we are not interested in that kind of plan," said Benjamin "Frank" Venti, a Monterey Park city councilman who is also president of the Independent Cities Assn.

"Not one of the 27 cities said they oppose our position" in opposition to Villaraigosa's legislation, said West Hollywood Councilman Jeffrey Prang, who also represents the California Contract Cities Assn. "It's unanimous."

At Irving Middle School, camera crews left the city officials when the telegenic Villaraigosa arrived, flanked by state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) and L.A. Unified school board member Monica Garcia. All support Villaraigosa's reform plan.

On the hill behind them, however, parent partisans who oppose the mayor assembled in camera range wearing bright yellow T-shirts and carrying pink signs that read "No mayoral takeover." Another group protested Villaraigosa's plan as not paying enough attention to special education students.

Inside the school auditorium, events rapidly took on more an air of theater than of substance as officials testified before parents who would ultimately have no vote on the issue. And parents testified before only three members of the Legislature, which will decide the matter.

Yet passions were nonetheless strong on both sides.

"Every single year, it's the same situation," testified parent Martha Sanchez. "I want change. We need to change. I don't care how."

Alisa Smith, of the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council, said she was "was on the fence about this proposed piece of legislation until I started to read it."

"I got about halfway through when I fell off the fence with an astonished thump," Smith said. "It is so clearly about money and ego and not education."

It was a lot to absorb for the genuinely undecided. Clayborn Keith had heard about the event through his son's school: "I'm just trying to figure out what it's all about."


►SOUTHEAST CITIES OFFERED SCHOOL SAY

by Naush Boghossian Staff Writer, LA Daily News

July 28, 2006 — Seeking to appease critics of his legislation to reform Los Angeles Unified, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa offered Thursday to grant neighboring southeast cities greater oversight of their local schools in his plan.

The revelation came hours before a hearing on Assembly Bill 1381, which would give Villaraigosa a significant role in running the nation's second-largest school district.

The 750-person capacity auditorium at Washington Irving Middle School in Glassell Park was packed with critics and supporters who turned out for the official Assembly Committee on Education hearing for the bill, which will be debated next month in Sacramento. Further amendments are expected to be announced early next week.

Villaraigosa proposed creating a fourth cluster of underperforming schools in the southeast part of the district that would be governed by a joint-powers board composed of the cities' officials.

Villaraigosa would have most of the authority over the three other proposed clusters of underperforming schools.

The offer, which could become an official amendment to the bill, was created to meet the concerns and interest of leaders in the southeast cities for greater local control over education in their jurisdiction, said Thomas Saenz, the mayor's chief counsel.

"The existing bill, even without this new proposal, gives all of the cities greater access to the district management and decision-making," Saenz said.

LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer saw the mayor's gesture as a sign of weakness, saying it was clear the mayor was desperately seeking the support of the southeast cities for his reform efforts.

"It seems to me this amendment was drawn simply to elicit their support, but the idea of the proliferation of separate districts within the district is a real problem," said Romer, alluding to the addition of the fourth cluster in South Gate.

"The total authority of the board and superintendent goes to the mayor. It just complicates the administration of the district. It's obvious the mayor and his staff are trying to draft things that appeal to more supporters."

The hearing brought together all stakeholders in the reform effort including Villaraigosa, Romer, the bill's author, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nu¤ez, school board member Marlene Canter, parent group leaders and council members of cities served by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Villaraigosa said his reform plan would increase collaboration with parents, increase accountability, as well as give school sites greater control over curriculum, budget and instruction.

"It's about expanding reform, deepening it, accelerating it," Villaraigosa said. "The current system is a top-down structure created in the 1960s and it's not working ... This legislation will give us the opportunity to create the kind of structured accountability essential to turning around our schools."

Romer once again used charts to buck the criticism that the district is a failing one, but he reached out for greater collaboration with the mayor, particularly in choosing the next superintendent. He displayed student achievement data to show that over the past six years LAUSD schools have shown a greater rate of improvement than the average state school.

"It is working. In fact, it's spectacular," he said, citing their student performance improvements and a $19 billion construction program, the largest public-works project in the country.

"The bill has some real problems. It divides accountability. ... We don't need a bill that constitutionally divides the authority of this school district."

The hearing also included a presentation by Maria Casillas, co-chairwoman of the blue-ribbon presidents' joint commission on LAUSD governance, detailing its findings after one year of research and expert testimony in considering a governance change at the LAUSD.

The commission's primary recommendations included greater local authority at school sites, but the group came up short of supporting a governance shift at the district that would put the mayor at its helm. Prior to the hearing, officials from more than two dozen other cities served by the LAUSD voiced their opinions of the bill.

W.H. "Bill" De Witt, vice mayor of the city of South Gate said he had not heard about the latest amendments. Without their support, it would send a signal to legislators that they are not happy with the bill.

"We feel in the southeast area that we've been shortchanged. We just don't want to get the short end of the shaft," De Witt said. "We want to listen to him ... but certainly we're having some communication problems."

But Saenz said neighboring city officials - including those in the California Contract Cities Association and the Independent Cities Association who announced on Thursday their opposition to the bill - would change their minds if they studied the new amendment because it would give them a greater voice in the district than they've ever had.

LAUSD chief counsel Kevin Reed said the move on the part of the mayor shows clearly that he's motivated by political gain rather than improving schools.

"To add these schools based on geography, regardless of their performance, indicates that this is about politics and nothing else," he said.


VIDEO LINK: "Principal's Union President is LAUSD Plant to Irritate Mayor! Villaraigosa and Nuñez Flee!!" Tape @ 11!!!



MAYOR RAISES $1 MILLION-PLUS FOR LAUSD BILL

by Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer, LA Daily News

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has raised nearly $1.1 million through 10 donors - led by Los Angeles billionaire A. Jerold Perenchio - to promote his legislation to reform Los Angeles schools, according to campaign finance reports released Friday.

The Mayor's Office publicly released the documents and challenged Los Angeles Unified School District officials to make similar disclosures on their political spending.

"This is a commitment that's following campaign finance guidelines to disclose the committee's spending and contributions and donations, and that's in sharp contrast to what the district is doing - taking taxpayer funds, spending it on a political campaign, and there's no transparency and accountability for that money," said Nathan James, a spokesman for the mayor.

"Parents deserve to know how much money is coming out of textbook and teacher salaries and going to political consultants."

District officials responded Friday by calling the challenge a "diversionary tactic."

"The Mayor's Office released a list of private contributors, but has not released how much in tax dollars it is spending on this campaign, including press deputies, legal counsel, city lobbyists, and other city employees," Superintendent Roy Romer said in a written statement. "Every commitment the district has already made has been reported in local media outlets. For the Mayor's Office to `call' on the district to release this information is redundant. This information has already been disclosed."

School officials so far have spent nearly $250,000 in district funds to fight the mayor's plan.

The documents released Friday showed the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability has $1.15 million cash on hand for its efforts to support the mayor's Assembly Bill 1381, now before the Legislature.

The bill would give the mayor a significant role in running the LAUSD and would give school sites greater control over budgets, instruction and curriculum.

Perenchio, who it was announced this week agreed to sell his Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications Inc. for nearly $13 billion, led the donors with a $500,000 contribution. Other donations included $100,000 from Westfield, the shopping center company, as well as $25,000 from Eli Broad's former company, KB Home.

Broad is a proponent of mayoral control of school districts, although he has indicated he does not support the mayor's compromise legislation brokered with the teachers unions.

"I think that all of the contributors to the committee have been active for a long time in civic life in L.A. and are extraordinarily interested in improving the schools here and that's why they're supporting the mayor," James said.
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▲smf notes: All of the media reports on this story missed a couple of interesting facts, probably because they relied on the Secretary of States extrapolation of the data and not the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability's actual F460 filing:
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/PDFGen/pdfgen.prg?filingid=1189491&amendid=0

• The Committee's legally declared purpose is as a "Ballot Measure Committee". Where is the ballot measure? The Mayor is committed to "NOT a ballot measure!"
• The second largest contributor to the Committee – after Jerry Perenchio at a cool half million dollars – seems not to be a three way tie between AP Properties of Chicago, Ill; David Fisher of the Capital Group and mall developer Westfield at $100,000.00 each — but Friends of Antonio Villaraigosa (2006) - a campaign committee formed to support Antonio should he run for State Senator in District 22, a seat currently held by Gil Cedillo. FOAV'06 was terminated last May, but not before transferring $169,000 to the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability – an entry that appears in the F460 filing as a "Miscellaneous Increase to Cash".
• Form F460 Schedule E, which accounts for $90,482.62 in cash expenditures is not included in the published F460 filing as of this writing. In fairness, these expenditures are accounted for (totaling $92,094.00) in the Secretary of State's data – but it may be (questionable) policy not to publish this form


The Secretary of State's campaign finance page for the Mayor's Committee for Government Excellence and Accountability



Beyond LA: VILLARAIGOSA'S TAKEOVER ATTEMPT WOULD HAVE DANGEROUS REPERCUSSIONS + LAUSD REFORM BID SNUBS PUBLIC INPUT
►VILLARAIGOSA'S TAKEOVER ATTEMPT WOULD HAVE DANGEROUS REPERCUSSIONS

Commentary by Suzan Solomon - The Signal | Santa Clarita Valley

The mayor of Los Angeles has determined that it is in the best interest of 730,000 students that he control 80 percent of the Los Angeles Unified School District while the remaining 27 mayors whose neighboring cities are part of LAUSD share control through a mayoral council that will oversee an appointed superintendent.

The mayor of Los Angeles has determined that the "elected" school board will have diminished authority - thus diminishing the voice of the community - and will be reduced to communicating with parents on matters of student achievement and student discipline.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to control the LAUSD and will bypass the voters - the very voters who elected him to office - to do it.

He, along with Assemblyman Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, are sponsoring Assembly Bill 1381, which ignores and violates the California Constitution, which states in Article 9, Section 6: "The public school system shall include all kindergarten schools, elementary schools, secondary schools, technical schools and state colleges, established in accordance with the law and, in addition, the school districts and other agencies authorized to maintain them. No school or college or any other part of the public school system shall be, directly or indirectly, transferred from the public school system or placed under the jurisdiction of any authority other than one included with the public school system."

On Aug. 7, AB 1381 will be presented to the state Senate Appropriations Committee. If the bill is passed, it will reduce and diminish the authority of the elected school board as well as the accountability that individual boards have over personnel, collective bargaining, fiscal management, approval of budgets and facilities. In addition, it will create conflicts of interest and confusion between teachers, staff, parents and the school district on issues of authority and accountability.

AB 1381 is based on flawed reasoning. The bill is politically motivated to advance the career of one politician, and one politician only: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The mayor considers the bill to be a "pilot program" for six years. The mayor cannot be allowed to abuse law and the legislative process for a "pilot program" with no thought of the consequences or effects felt by LAUSD.

We must work together with the elected LAUSD Board to defeat AB 1381, and it is imperative that school districts statewide voice their opposition.

While this bill is specific to the Los Angeles Unified School District, it opens the door for mayors statewide and nationally to seek control of locally elected schools boards through similar measures.

The bill short-circuits the voice and the will of the people of California and the fundamental principles of democracy and governance at the grass-roots level by failing to take into consideration the opinions, beliefs and values of the voters and members of the community.

I strongly urge you to send letters to editors and to contact members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as your state senator, to express your opposition to AB 1381.

The act to take over the LAUSD is not in keeping with the principles of democracy. Not when words like "education czar," "control" and "takeover" are used. What happens to LAUSD will have an impact statewide, if not nationwide. The voice of the people of California will become more and more silent if politicians are empowered by indifference and passiveness on the part of the citizens. Your voice at the ballot box will become symbolic rather than truly influential.

The time is now to get involved before it is too late, when the political deals have been made and the legislation is passed without the voice of the voters.

▲Suzan Solomon of Valencia is president of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, a member of the Newhall School Board and a member of the Los Angeles Committee for School District Organization. She is also President of Thirty-fourth District PTA, encompassing Northernmost Los Angeles County and Kern, San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono Counties

______

► LAUSD REFORM BID SNUBS PUBLIC INPUT

by Maribel De La Torre, Guest Columnist, LA Daily News
Maribel De La Torre is a member of the San Fernando City Council

July 26, 2006 — A special meeting of the San Fernando City Council was scheduled for this past Friday with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to discuss reform for the LAUSD. The council, of which I am a member, had agreed to meet with Villaraigosa before taking a formal position on his reform plan, otherwise known as Assembly Bill 1381.

But the meeting was never to take place. The Mayor's Office called three hours before the scheduled start to cancel. Apparently Villaraigosa and his staff were unprepared to host a meeting that would be open to the public, as San Fernando City Council meetings must be to be in accordance with state open-meetings laws.

And herein lies the problems with Villaraigosa's takeover plan for the independent cities that are serviced by the LAUSD.

Although Villaraigosa's office has refused to acknowledge or work with the city of San Fernando's governance structure, he can only be doing this for two reasons. Either he and his office are truly ignorant of our governance structure, or he would rather negotiate directly with mayors who have absolutely no decision-making power. Both reasons should be of concern to all 26 member agencies serviced by LAUSD.

If his actions are based on ignorance, then he should learn how our councils' governance structure functions and how we make decisions. In our cities, our mayors' position is not necessarily the city's position. We are governed by majority rule.

If the meeting was canceled due to his desire to negotiate only with the mayors of the cities, then every single council member and every single resident in every city serviced by LAUSD should be extremely concerned. The reasons our cities engage in majority vote/rule is because it is the democratic way and is to create balance in our communities.

Our City Council represents over 25,000 residents in San Fernando, and our residents entrust us with the daily decisions affecting them. It is our duty to fight for equity. In this case equity must come though checks and balances.

It is the city of San Fernando's position that AB 1381 should be amended to include several provisions, but the overriding and most important should include a super-majority veto power regarding appointment of the superintendent and veto power over the budget approval. (Two-thirds, or 18 of the 26 cities, would have the ability to override Villaraigosa's decision on choosing a superintendent or approving the budget of the school district.)

On a personal level it is my belief that cities should be given options under AB 1381. Those should include the ability for cities to form their own school districts or the ability to contract with either the LAUSD or another school district. Currently, the 26 cities are being forced into a situation which may not be mutually beneficial.

The 26 member agencies serviced by LAUSD have one shot at carving out educational reform and one shot at getting this right. To do this, we must be able to be at the negotiating table as elected bodies ready to make decisions in a very open and transparent manner.

However, in the past several days transparency has been shut out of this process, beginning with Villaraigosa's cancelation of our meeting. Not one single school-reform meeting is being hosted in the San Fernando Valley.

Parents, elected officials, taxpayers and educators should be concerned over the nontransparency of AB 1381 by those who are pushing this agenda forward without wanting to hear from the rest of us.




• from Sunday's LA Times: DEAL BREAKER: HOW ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER CHANGED HIS MIND ON PROP 98 & LOST THE SUPPORT OF THE ALL-POWERFUL TEACHERS UNION



MAYOR TO HIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT ENVOY + CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE TAKES NO POSITION ON LAUSD TAKEOVER PLAN
►MAYOR TO HIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT ENVOY: Ramon C. Cortines, a former superintendent, will be Villaraigosa's education advisor and representative before the LAUSD board.

By Duke Helfand and Joel Rubin, LA Times Staff Writers

July 25, 2006 - Moving to bolster his sway over Los Angeles' embattled public school system, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will name former schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines today to the post of deputy mayor for education, youth and families.

Cortines, a veteran educator who has led some of the nation's largest and most politically volatile school districts, including Los Angeles Unified for a brief stint, is expected to serve as an important buffer between Villaraigosa, the school board and the teachers union.

Cortines would not say in an interview whether he supports state legislation that would give Villaraigosa a measure of control over the school system. But he insisted that any takeover must be a collaborative effort involving the warring sides.

"We're poised to take the next step. Instead of taking it in a fractured way, I think that we need to come together," said Cortines, 74. "I think we all need to compromise a little."

Cortines' hiring was interpreted by many in the education community as a smart strategic move for Villaraigosa, who has waged an often ugly campaign over the last year to wrest control of the school system from the elected school board. The mayor plans to formally announce the appointment at a South Los Angeles preschool today.

Cortines is widely regarded as a respected educator — he has run school districts in New York, San Francisco, San Jose and Pasadena. His selection was cautiously welcomed by some school district leaders who believe he can bridge the political chasm opened by the conflict.

School board President Marlene Canter said she thinks Cortines "will bring some depth to the conversation" over the schools, adding: "I have a lot of respect for the work Ramon Cortines has done. If his goal is to create a partnership, this will be very helpful."

In his new position, Cortines will represent the mayor before L.A. Unified and other civic institutions, including community colleges, universities and corporate and philanthropic groups.

He also will be Villaraigosa's top educational advisor, replacing Carolyn Webb de Macias, who is returning to her job as vice president of external relations at USC after a year's sabbatical in the mayor's office.

Some educators speculated that Villaraigosa may have hired Cortines to install him eventually as superintendent when Supt. Roy Romer retires later this year — a notion that Cortines and the mayor's office sought to dispel.

Such a scenario would be possible if Villaraigosa wins the Legislature's approval next month for a bill providing him with some control over the school district, including veto power over the hiring and firing of superintendents.

Cortines said he had no plans to succeed Romer, at least for now, saying he removed his name from the board's ongoing search Saturday, once he decided to go to work for Villaraigosa. Cortines said that the mayor persuaded him that he could best serve Los Angeles from City Hall.

"I believe, as citizens, we have to step up to the plate when we are asked," Cortines said of the post, which will pay him about $130,000 a year. "This is not a job for someone who wants to put L.A. Unified on their resume."

Cortines had previously expressed interest in the superintendent's job, saying he would not formally apply but would accept the post if offered by the mayor and the school board.

Whether or not he stays in City Hall, experts said that Cortines' experience in New York — where he had to balance Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's demands for a voice in education issues with the power of the school board — qualifies him to manage the complicated power-sharing arrangement called for by Villaraigosa's district reform plan. Cortines frequently clashed with Giuliani, ultimately resigning after two years.

"He's just a highly respected senior statesman," said Stanford education professor Michael Kirst, who has written extensively about mayoral control of schools.

Villaraigosa's chief of staff, Robin Kramer, said the mayor picked Cortines because of his knowledge of large urban school systems, but noted that Cortines will have a broad portfolio.

Aside from advising the mayor on L.A. Unified, he will serve as a liaison to city departments and commissions that focus on children and families, including the Recreation and Parks Department and the city's library system.

"The mayor has articulated a view and pathway for schools to improve," Kramer said. "Ray shares that philosophy. It is definitely one which, at its very core, rests on the notion that parents, teachers, educators, the union and businesses have to be involved."

Cortines began his career as a teacher in Northern California in the mid-1950s. In addition to his school district positions, he has served as adjunct professor at Harvard and Brown universities. He currently serves as a member of the board of the J. Paul Getty Trust and as an education consultant to the Broad Foundation.

Cortines took over L.A. Unified as an interim superintendent during a period of upheaval in early 2000. He presided over the school system for just six months — and left before he had time to confront anything likely to make him unpopular.

Cortines' short tenure spanned the turbulent removal of former Supt. Ruben Zacarias and the arrival of district outsider Romer.

During his stay, Cortines and the school board reshaped the school-construction division, canceling the district's two major construction projects — including the Belmont Learning Complex. He was instrumental in introducing a much-touted plan to decentralize the school system.

Some of his actions, considered momentous at the time, had little staying power, but insiders have praised him for setting a tone of school reform and accountability that has persisted.

Caprice Young, a board member when Cortines was interim superintendent, recalled Cortines as a "consensus builder" who could cool friction between then-Mayor Richard Riordan and the school board.

"He pays attention to making sure everyone is heard," said Young, who now runs the California Charter Schools Assn. "And he inspires people to act as grown-ups, which, quite frankly, is what is needed right now — some grown-ups to look after the kids instead of all this bickering."

• Times staff writer Howard Blume contributed to this report.
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► CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE TAKES NO POSITION ON LAUSD TAKEOVER PLAN

from abc-7 & City News Service

LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2006 - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's effort to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District got a big thumbs sideways Friday by a City Council committee.

After listening to public comments, the council's Intergovernmental Relations Committee took no position on Assembly Bill 1381.

The chair of the committee, Councilman Greig Smith, said the panel will again consider whether to support the measure during a meeting scheduled for next week. [Other committee members are Herb Wesson and Alex Padilla.]

No supporters showed up for the committee meeting and four people spoke against the plan, including community activist Ted Hayes, who questioned whether future mayors would be committed to playing a role in the school district.

"Can we always be assured that every successive mayor will be just as talented, just as skilled, just as energetic when it comes to dealing with educational issues?" Hayes asked the committee.

Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, both Villaraigosa allies, introduced a bill in the Legislature last month that would allow the Los Angeles mayor to have a role in how the school district is governed during a six-year trial period.

The plan is opposed by Los Angeles Unified School Superintendent Roy Romer and many school board members, but after intensive lobbying and compromises by Villaraigosa, the state Senate's Education Committee approved a bill last month.

At a contentious legislative hearing Thursday night, parents, educators and mayors of many of the other 27 cities whose students attend LAUSD schools criticized the plan as being a power grab by the mayor, and Romer said the plan "has some real problems" because it "divides accountability."

Friday, Villaraigosa announced an amendment to the legislation that would offer outlying communities greater oversight over their local schools.

Part of the proposal calls for creating a fourth cluster of underperforming schools in the southeast part of the school district that would be governed by a joint-powers board comprised of the cities' officials.

Villaraigosa would have most of the authority over the three other proposed clusters of underperforming schools.

During the Assembly Committee on Education's hearing, held at Irving Middle School in Glassell Park, Villaraigosa said his reform plan would increase accountability while also giving schools greater control of curriculum.

"This legislation will give us the opportunity to create the kind of structured accountability essential to turning around our schools," he said.

Villaraigosa has said he wants to improve high school graduation rates in the district, citing five recent studies that show about half of the students attending LAUSD schools fail to graduate within four years.

Romer says the district's dropout rate is closer to 24 percent for the 2005-06 school year, an improvement of 33 percent over the previous year.



Sunday OpEd: BILL GATES, THE NATION'S SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS – His foundation has big clout in American education. How will it wield its power?



CALIFORNIA'S LOW-INCOME SCHOOLS TO GET HIGH-TECH WINDFALL
• MORE THAN $400 MILLION FROM A 2004 SETTLEMENT OF AN ANTITRUST LAWSUIT AGAINST MICROSOFT WILL BE USED FOR TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

by Arin Gencer, LA Times Staff Writer

July 27, 2006 — California schools could receive hundreds of millions of dollars in school technology funds made available through an antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp., the state Department of Education announced Wednesday.

More than $400 million will be poured into the education department's coffers, said Jack O'Connell, State Supt. of Public Instruction. Schools in districts with state-approved technology plans — and with at least 40% of their students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches, a low-income indicator — would be eligible for funding.

"The lack of technology in our classrooms hurts students from low-income families the most," O'Connell said, explaining the criteria. "This settlement is great news for our schools."

The money could be used for computer hardware or software, technology maintenance and infrastructure, network equipment or professional development, he said.

The money comes from a $1.1-billion antitrust settlement approved by a Superior Court judge in San Francisco in 2004. Two-thirds of the funds unclaimed by California businesses and consumers were designated for California public schools, said Richard Grossman, one of the lead attorneys in the case against Microsoft.

"This settlement will not only equip California schools … but will also equip students with the skills they need to succeed in a world that increasingly places a premium on technological literacy," said Martin Pastula, U.S. justice and public safety manager for Microsoft. He said the company was pleased to see the money directly benefit disadvantaged students.

O'Connell described the settlement agreement as "an important step in closing the digital divide in California schools" — and a welcome relief after recent cuts in federal funding for educational technology.

"All of these resources will help our schools in their efforts to improve achievement, close the achievement gap" between low-performing Latino and black students and their peers, O'Connell said.

The vouchers will be distributed through the department's Education Technology K-12 Voucher Program, and must be used within six years of their issuance. The per-pupil voucher amount could range from about $100 to $150, O'Connell said.

The department will put out a request for applications online starting in mid-September, O'Connell said.

Schools could use the funds for a wide range of needs, O'Connell said. "If a school district's goal is to have a laptop for every student, this funding could be used for that purpose," he said.

Education officials in the Los Angeles school district and in Orange County said they have long anticipated the funds.

"It's a wonderful opportunity," said Themy Sparangis, the Los Angeles Unified School District's chief technology director for educational technology. "We're going to support the schools in making sure that … they get the best value out of the vouchers."

Sparangis said the money could go toward further incorporating technology in instruction — such as programs that support learning algebra and passing the mandatory high school exit exam.

Nearly half of Orange County's roughly 590 schools would qualify for vouchers, said Sandra Lapham, administrator of educational technology for the county Department of Education.

"There is always the issue of providing what is needed, of providing equitably, of making sure that the equipment is as current as it can be within the educational setting," Lapham said. "It's going to be very well used."


4LAKids: The News That Doesn't Fit — Stuff that hasn't yet, can't, won't or shouldn't make it into 4LAKids!



EVENTS: PUBLIC MEETINGS THIS WEEK ABOUT AB 1381

▲ Tuesday, August 1, 5:30 – 8:00 PM
TOWNHALL MEETING & PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL HEARING REGARDING LAUSD GOVERNANCE
Hosted by Assemblymember Keith S. Richman & Senator George Runner
Granada Hills Charter High School
10535 Zelzah Ave,
Granada Hills
Los Angeles 91344

▲ Thursday, August 3, 4:30 – 7:00 PM
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY MAYOR'S TOWN HALL MEETING
Los Angeles Valley College
Monarch Hall
5800 Fulton Avenue
Valley Glen
Los Angeles 91401

▲ Thursday, August 3, 2006, 6:30 PM
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP COALITION MEETING
Issue: MAYORAL CONTROL OF SCHOOLS
Parent Power! • It's About Our Children! • No Mayoral Takeover!
• • • LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! • • •
Wilson High School
4500 Multnomah Street
El Serreno
Los Angeles 90032



Map to the three locations



What can YOU do?
►CONTACT YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON AND STATE SENATOR Tell them what you think!
• LAUSD ASSEMBLY DELEGATION
Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Montanez@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Levine@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Pavley@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Koretz@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Frommer@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Liu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Nunez@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Bass@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Ridley-Thomas@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Chu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Horton@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Lieu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Karnette@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Oropeza@assembly.ca.gov

• LAUSD SENATE DELEGATION
Senator.Alarcon@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Scott@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Cedillo@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Kuehl@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Vincent@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Murray@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Lowenthal@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Bowen@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Escutia@senate.ca.gov

• TO DETERMINE WHO YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON & SENATOR IS & GET THEIR ADDRESS PHONE & FAX NUMBERS:
http://192.234.213.69/smapsearch/framepage.asp


• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Mike.Lansing@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Jon.Lauritzen@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
David.Tokofsky@lausd.net • 213-241-6383

...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president.
Call or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• Vote.



Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?




Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council.
• In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
• FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
• To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.



Sunday, July 23, 2006

25 hours in the 43 days to August 31st



4LAKids: Sunday, July 23, 2006
In This Issue:
ON THE ROAD IN THE WESTSIDE TRAFFIC (in - ahem - rush hour delays caused by road construction) WITH THE MAYOR'S REFORM/TAKEOVER/MAKEOVER PLAN
SUPT. ROMER LASHES OUT AT VILLARAIGOSA FOR CRITICISM: The schools chief says the L.A. mayor's repeated claims of failure is propaganda
CIVIC, BUSINESS GROUPS OPPOSE SCHOOL TAKEOVER
NCLB VOUCHER PLAN INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
14% OF LAUSD SENIORS FLUNK EXIT TEST: Results may affect district leadership tussle
EVENTS/Coming up next week: THE ONE ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE HEARING IN LOS ANGELES ON THURSDAY RE: AB 1381
What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
READING TO KIDS: Read to some kids the second Saturday morning each month. Make a difference. Change some lives (including your own!).
The Blueprint for Effective School Reform: MAKING SCHOOLS WORK — Get the Book @ Amazon.com!
THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee's series "Paying for Schools."
FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target one nickel from every federal tax dollar for Education.
The Mayor chose a back room in a Sacramento hotel to craft his plan to take over LAUSD; he chose the lobbies, cloakrooms and hearing rooms of the state capitol – and the tent where the governor smokes his cigars - as the battle ground for his "war". Good generals choose battlefields wisely – Napoleon chose Austerlitz and Marengo – but he also chose Waterloo. LAUSD leadership seems content to fight the battle Antonio has chosen where Antonio has chosen.

The LA Times [below] says John Burton and Richard Polanco have been hired to lead LAUSD's defense. Experienced politicians in the Sacramento trenches.

But where is the fight here in LA? Who's in charge here? Roy Romer is a consummate politician – but he is a Colorado politician and a lame duck. The fight in Sacramento will be one of amendment and compromise; the fight that needs to be fought here for the hearts and minds of Los Angeleños must be over a "Profiles in Courage" line in the sand: No Compromise/None of this is acceptable!

This is not a fight about charisma or statistics or API scores or anyone's political future; this is a fight about this generation of 730,000 school children …plus future generations of unnumbered, unborn schoolchildren. Our children and their children.

• The mayor won't put this on the ballot – where are the signature gatherers to put it on the ballot anyway?

• Where is the text of AB 1381 translated into Spanish? ... or Korean, Russian, Chinese, Armenian, Tagalog?

• Where is that table where like minded individuals – Parents, disaffected UTLA members, politicians, school board members, businesspeople, educators and civil rights attorneys; progressives, liberals and conservatives; Democrats and Republicans and declines-to-states who oppose this wretched mess for lots of differing reasons come together because we agree on only one thing: This Is A Bad Deal!


ANTONIO'S BATTLE SOMETIMES LEAKS OUT BEYOND SACRAMENTO TO LOS ANGELES where it really matters – that happened this week. The 25 hours between 6PM Wednesday and 7PM Thursday saw three acts of political theater played out in the tragicomedy that is the Mayor's attempt to takeover/makeover/reform LAUSD in his own image.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT saw the Mayor's first Town Hall Meeting in South Central at Victory Baptist Church. The evening was hot and the pews were filed. Busloads of Parents were bused in from charter schools. Anticipation hung in the air, palpable and moist in the humidity. Despite an advertised 5PM start things started at 5:45 and the schedule ran later as the evening ran on.

A video presentation opened the evening – equal parts of [hopefully rights-secured] video clips of from Oprah, 60 Minutes (neither about LA) and "Stand and Deliver" (about LA in 1982) intercut with the Mayor's State of the City address delivered from The Accelerated School – his photo-op charter school of choice.

A panel discussion followed, in reality a series of three-minute-only prompted-if-not-scripted comments from a charter school parent, a charter school student and UTLA member teacher. The student praised the mayor's plan, the teacher praised the plan and the charter school parent praised charter schools as the only answer for the much ballyhooed failure of LAUSD. Charts and graphs were PowerPointed next as a city employee on the Mayor's staff (no doubt on her own time) described the wonderfulness of the Mayor's Plan and the flawlessness of the Mayor's Statistics. Drop outs are bad. Middle schools are failing. Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. The mayor's plan – not the old plan but the plan as compromised-today-and-will-be-rewritten-and-tweaked over the next six weeks in Sacramento – is the answer.

City Councilperson Jan Perry was trotted out and introduced. Senator Gloria Romero didn't take much coaxing to make a speech. Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

And then Mayor Villaraigosa, to a standing ovation from half the crowd, took the pulpit from which Martin Luther King first addressed Los Angeles. That symbolism was explored and exploited. And the Mayor began the set piece/stump speech – from the failing student kicked out of Catholic school whose talents were recognized by one teacher to the drop out redeemed. Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. We were told he short version of the story of how the mayor-elect turned around Jefferson High School when the faculty, administration and school district could not or would not. The Mayor was flustered a bit when the translation equipment didn't work – but he came though in English and Spanish. He answered a few pre-screened questions, avoided specifics, referred to PowerPoint slides deleted long ago from previous versions of the set piece – and was gone. Half the crowd rose to applaud – and directions were given to the bused in parents on how to find their buses. A solid "B" performance.

THURSDAY MORNING found same of the same folks and many other folks at Santee High School, Roy Romer's photo-op high school of choice for his Second Annual State of the Schools Address. After an intro by Connie Rice and State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, Roy Romer showed why a good presenter who's already been governor - working with real charts and graphs - can outperform an equally good performer working from a PowerPoint presentation that exists only in the audience and presenter's memory.

Romer's charts and graphs were there, in his hands, shiny and new; he knew them inside out: "Just look at the data!" Romer produced new data, described new studies – and point-by-point refuted the Mayor's tired definition of LAUSD failure.

"This is a district that has more success than any other metropolitan district in California in the last six years. This is a district that has been driving up some of the scores of the whole state.

"We have certain people in this community who continue to describe this district as failing. This has tremendous consequences for our city. As a gifted politician, the Mayor knows that if he continues to use propaganda and mistruths long enough to describe our schools, the community will believe it. Instead of celebrating our progress, the Mayor's continued inaccuracies damage the work of the students, classroom teachers and principals who are committed to increasing academic achievement everyday in our schools.

"We obviously are not serving our children well when we argue about who should be in charge of our schools as opposed to rolling up our sleeves and getting the work done. We ought to not have Assembly Bill 1381, which would diminish accountability in our schools. Instead, we need to enter into more creative and workable partnerships with the City, particularly the mayor, County and community organizations.

"I challenge city government and the civic community to come and work together with the District. We have a great challenge in this community to keep our children safe going and coming from school, to make sure they have adequate health care, to make sure teachers can afford to purchase a home in the neighborhood where they teach.

"There are some heights that we can reach for. I think that it is time that everybody recognizes that we have made very strong gains. We have a very strong program moving forward, but we need everybody's hand.

Romer characterized the mayor's attack as "propaganda" – not necessarily a bad choice of word …and then equated the damage of the mayor's propaganda with that done in interning Japanese-Americans during WW2 …maybe going a bridge too far.

Maybe not. Romer speaks from his heart and from experience here – as a youngster in Colorado he saw internment camps and the effect of the propaganda first hand. In telling that story he stayed "on message" – but he gave the press and the mayor a side track they both gladly took.

A link to Romer's speech is below. It's being rebroadcast wall-to-wall on KLCS Channel 58. You can watch it on your computer. It's worth a look or a read. An "A" performance …but not an "A+".

THURSDAY EVENING found the Mayor and Co. at Westwood United Methodist Church. Same Video, same PowerPoint, different staffers and a different panel. Same white buses, many of the same parents on them. A member of the mayor's staff explained the intentional half-an-hour-later start than advertised to Assemblymember Goldberg - she had no patience with this institutionalized tardiness.

Instead of a charter parent we cut to the chase: Steve Barr himself. Steve pitched his parent union, his charter schools, bemoaned lack of parent involvement in LAUSD, called the district bureaucracy "29 floors of perpetual coffee breaks" and said there are 35,000 unneeded district staff downtown. As 35,000 is the grand total of District's non-classroom-teacher-employees one most suppose that Steve (and by illogical extension, the Mayor) proposes to do away with Principals, Custodians, Lunch Ladies, Bus Drivers, Nurses, The Board of Ed, the Superintendent, School Police, Crossing Guards, Parent Center Directors, the people building all the new schools, the staff of the Charter Office and the folks who write the check to Green Dot Public Schools.

And then, for good measure, Steve slammed PTA. (see below).

Gloria Romero was on the agenda this time: Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. And Councilman Weiss described a recent funeral he and the Mayor attended for three Hamilton High School students shot off campus. (I'm sorry, but exploiting that kind of tragedy for political gain crosses certain lines of propriety …especially as the Mayor and the City are the ones ultimately responsible for public safety off campus.)

The Mayor gave his same set piece, expanded on his dramatic intervention at Jefferson High School – adding the part about the student writing graffiti and a female teacher's revealing outfit. He referred to the data no longer in his PowerPoint again: "You saw that …didn't you?" And he refuted Romer's data as tired statistics celebrating the status quo and lacking in "urgency". He revisited the dirty bathroom controversy of five years ago. He gave no specifics and remained inexorably on message – going as far as to say that this is not the time for specifics, this is the time for vision. And this is also not the time to take this to a vote of the people: that time may come in four or six years.

And he was shocked – shocked! – that Governor Romer was attacking him personally. He has never once mentioned the Superintendent or the Board of Education in his unrelenting litany of LAUSD failure. He's above such things. And unspoken: That is what staff, consultants and surrogates are for.

The Mayor was more relaxed this time, the translation equipment worked. Half the audience stood and applauded before and after; no hearts and minds were won or lost. A "B+".

Most telling was his answer to a question that challenged Mayoral Control in New York, Boston, Chicago, etc.: The results in those places are no different after mayoral control than from before. The Mayor reminded the questioner that he, Antonio Villaraigosa, is not Mayor of those cities. – smf


▲ In the interest of the appearance of fairness: If anyone has a link to Mayor Villaraigosa's speech 4LAKids will gladly post that.


Link to SUPERINTENDENT ROMER'S SPEECH, KLCS RE-BROADCAST TIMES + WEBCAST INFO. Also most of the NEWS ARTICLES about it.



ON THE ROAD IN THE WESTSIDE TRAFFIC (in - ahem - rush hour delays caused by road construction) WITH THE MAYOR'S REFORM/TAKEOVER/MAKEOVER PLAN

At Mayor Villaraigosa's Town Hall Meeting in Westwood last Thursday evening charter school advocate and would-be parent's union founder Steve Barr – speaking for the Mayor's Plan, chose to attack PTA – characterizing the organization and its meetings as – and I think I've got this right: "monthly fights and shouting matches".

I've been to more than my share of PTA meetings, I've seen some where honest disagreements have broken out – democracy is like that.

But Steve, your child will never know a child with Polio. That's because PTA fought in the 1950's. You have seatbelts in your car because PTA fought in the '60's. Your child rides in safety in a car seat because PTA fought in the '70's. The federal government is engaged in Public Education because PTA fought. PTA fought for those Title One funds your Green Dot Schools receive. Poor children get free and reduced price school lunches and there are kindergartens in public schools because PTA fought. School Zones and Child Labor Laws and Parental Involvement ….and those infuriating safety caps on medicine bottles because we fought.

Week before last Governor Schwarzenegger recognized PTA's advocacy for the Arts, Music and Physical Education in California at an event at Hamilton High School …and came though with nearly a billion dollars in funding for those programs.

And yes: Bake sales and after school programs and the Fall Carnival. All from those monthly fights from those meddlesome moms and dads.

There already is an independent parent's union - and it has grass roots locals at school sites, it has councils, districts and state organizations in every state. It has a national office. It has six million volunteer dues-paying members nationally; one million in California, 60,000 in LA.

It is PTA ...and we are not just punch and cookies. Join the fight.

-smf
Scott Folsom
President, Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA

_________

►CORRECTION: RE THE GREEN DOT CHARTER APPLICATION IN THE 7/16 4LAKids - On July 12 the State Board of Ed DID NOT VOTE on the Green Dot petition for a statewide benefit charter. It was obvious they did not have the 6 votes needed. Steve Barr agreed, at the suggestion of members who support the petition, to put it over until the next meeting.

The issue is still alive and unsettled.

California State Board of Education | 916-319-0827
1430 N Street, Suite #5111
Sacramento, CA 95814




KLCS-TV offers newly scheduled broadcasts of the State Senate Education Committee Hearing on AB 1381 with Secondary Audio Program (SAP) in Spanish.



SUPT. ROMER LASHES OUT AT VILLARAIGOSA FOR CRITICISM: The schools chief says the L.A. mayor's repeated claims of failure is propaganda

By Joel Rubin and Duke Helfand, LA Times Staff Writers

July 21, 2006 - As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stumped across Los Angeles on Thursday to drum up support for his proposed takeover of the public schools, Supt. Roy Romer unleashed a stinging rebuke of the mayor and a forceful defense of the embattled school district.

Romer lashed out at Villaraigosa, challenging the frequent attacks the mayor has leveled against the Los Angeles Unified School District during his yearlong push for control. Romer repeatedly called the assault "propaganda" and likened it to the U.S. government's campaign to justify its internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"It has tremendous consequence for this city because if you indoctrinate — propagandize — a population long enough into a mistruth they believe it," Romer said during his annual state of the schools address.

"This is not a failing district. This is a district that has more success than any other metropolitan district in California in the last six years."

Villaraigosa fired back, holding an afternoon news conference at City Hall to counter Romer's sanguine assessment of the district and lambaste him for his comments.

"What [Romer] said was outrageous. I think we all know that. He should immediately retract his remarks," Villaraigosa said. "To compare the facts of what is going on here in L.A. Unified to the internment of the Japanese is absolutely wrong."

Some Japanese American leaders demanded an apology from Romer, calling his remarks insensitive. Former school board member Warren Furutani said he learned about Romer's comments when a member of Villaraigosa's school takeover campaign committee called and faxed him the remarks. Furutani and others in the Japanese American community then held a hastily arranged news conference at the Japanese American National Museum.

"I thought it was pretty offensive to try to connect Antonio to the same propaganda machine that put Japanese in internment camps during World War II," said Furutani, who is a member of the community college board. "I thought that was out of bounds."

In a statement, Romer stood by his criticisms of the mayor but apologized to anyone offended by his comments.

Romer, who will depart this fall after six years as superintendent, spent much of his 35-minute speech using figures and charts aimed at picking apart the mayor's characterization of the district as a failure. He pointed to strong gains district students have posted on state test scores, while presenting data that indicate the district is performing on par or better than New York and other large urban systems.

Speaking to about 200 people in the library at the new Santee Learning Complex, Romer touted the district's $19-billion construction program that aims to build about 150 schools and renovate hundreds of others. Romer appeared confident, roaming the small stage with large photos of students hanging behind him. Absent were the mayor and teachers union chief A.J. Duffy.

Romer also assailed Villaraigosa for the deal he struck with the state's powerful teachers unions last month to make way for the proposed legislation that would give him considerable control of the district.

"How can we allow elected officials to get together at midnight in a hotel room in Sacramento and on the back of an envelope begin to dictate the future of your children based on false information?" Romer said.

To help shape their strategy in fighting the bill, district officials said Thursday they have hired political heavyweights John Burton and Richard Polanco, both former state senators. In addition, political consultant Sue Burnside is expected to coordinate outreach to parents. Burton and Polanco, who each are being paid $35,000, joined school financing expert John Mockler, who was hired at $10,000 a month.

The superintendent's barrage did nothing to quiet the mayor. At his news conference, he cited several recent studies that concluded that only about half of the students in the L.A. system graduate on time. Villaraigosa has used the studies repeatedly to hammer district leadership for failing to increase graduation rates.

Later Thursday, Villaraigosa visited a Westwood church to discuss his school reform plan with about 500 people, some of them bused in by the mayor's campaign committee.

After an aide outlined the proposed legislation, AB 1381, Villaraigosa spent about 45 minutes answering a wide range of questions, some of which he has encountered repeatedly. Audience members, for example, asked why Villaraigosa decided to seek legislation instead of putting the issue to a local vote and questioned how his plan would retain teachers in the district's worst schools.

Villaraigosa said he sought the legislation to avoid a costly local fight and pledged to provide incentives to attract senior teachers to troubled schools.

"If we don't do something about our schools, we're not going to be able to compete for the good jobs. We're not going to be able to support a middle class," Villaraigosa responded when asked why he wanted to take responsibility for the school district.

On Wednesday, Villaraigosa delivered a similar message to about 1,000 parents packed into Victory Baptist Church in South Los Angeles. He told the mothers and fathers — whom he called "the silent majority" — that they were indispensable in his effort to transform L.A. Unified.

The school takeover bill calls for a complex power-sharing arrangement in which Villaraigosa, the elected school board and the superintendent would be responsible for overseeing different aspects of the 727,000-student district. The mayor had initially sought complete control but was forced to back away by union leaders who opposed the idea.

If the bill is approved by legislators in August, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised to sign it into law. It would give Villaraigosa the power to hire and fire the superintendent and to control three clusters of low-performing campuses.

Repeating ideas he has trotted out frequently in his education campaign, Villaraigosa called Wednesday for every school to have a parent resource center and a parent coordinator, though he did not say how he would pay for any of the new services.

Several parents said they were encouraged by Villaraigosa's proposed school reforms.

"The school district has been very rude with parents," said Martha Sanchez, a parent of three district students and a member of Acorn, a grass-roots organization supportive of the mayor. "We have to put our potential with this bill. We don't have any other option."

But Cheryl Razor said she wasn't convinced that a Villaraigosa-led district would improve circumstances for her 10-year-old son, a special education student. "I thought it was a show," Razor said of his appearance.


CIVIC, BUSINESS GROUPS OPPOSE SCHOOL TAKEOVER
A VALLEY ASSOCIATION AND THE INDEPENDENT CITIES ALLIANCE CITE CONCERNS ABOUT VILLARAIGOSA'S PLAN FOR MAYORAL CONTROL OF L.A. UNIFIED.

By Duke Helfand, Times Staff Writer

July 19, 2006 - The Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., one of the San Fernando Valley's leading business groups, announced Tuesday that it opposes the legislative compromise Villaraigosa struck with teachers unions in Sacramento, saying the deal would deny local voters a direct say over the fate of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The Independent Cities Assn., which represents Los Angeles and most of the other 27 cities served by the school district, registered its protest last weekend.

It cited, among other things, concerns about Villaraigosa's controlling vote on a "council of mayors" that would oversee the school district.

The California State PTA also gave a thumbs down to the mayor's plan last weekend, questioning whether the proposed division of power among the mayor, superintendent and elected school board would adequately serve parents already bewildered by L.A. Unified's mammoth bureaucracy.

"Even the people who are advocating for the bill have trouble explaining exactly who is accountable for what," said Pam Brady, the state PTA's president-elect. "It's just confusing."

The mounting opposition builds on concerns raised recently by Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad, who told Villaraigosa in a letter that he opposed the effort because it would not truly empower the mayor to run the schools.

The concerns from different quarters come at a delicate time for Villaraigosa, who is trying to drum up support for his school legislation by lobbying local business groups and parent organizations as well as lawmakers in Sacramento.

Tonight, Villaraigosa plans to hold the first of four local town hall meetings to sell his district takeover plan to parents.

Villaraigosa's aides insisted that his vision for L.A. Unified enjoys the support of a growing constituency. On Tuesday, his staff released the names of several groups and individuals they said have endorsed the school initiative, including the Youth Policy Institute, Green Dot Public Schools, the Service Employees International Union and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

"From state leaders to local parent groups, Mayor Villaraigosa is assembling a broad coalition of support for his proposal to reform our public schools," said spokeswoman Janelle Erickson. "The mayor's education reform proposal continues to gain support because people are recognizing it as a historic opportunity to fundamentally reform our schools by strengthening accountability and empowering parents and educators."

The head of the county labor federation said Villaraigosa's plan offers the true promise of a quality education for the children of Los Angeles' working-class families, those most affected by the public school system.

"The effort to improve public education for all our children can only be achieved by forging a broad alliance of organized labor, community members, elected leaders, parents and other civic-minded leaders," said Maria Elena Durazo, the federation's executive secretary-treasurer. "We believe that [this plan] embodies the essential elements of fundamental reform and partnership and is a strong step in the right direction."

Still, Villaraigosa's aides have been scrambling in recent days to amend the school takeover legislation, AB 1381, to satisfy state lawmakers and win their support when they return from recess in early August.

It is unclear what effect the opposition of community and business groups will have on the legislation, in part because of Villaraigosa's powerful allies in Sacramento, including Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), who co-wrote the bill, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has pledged to sign it.

The measure passed through the Senate Education Committee last month and now faces votes in the Senate Appropriations Committee and full Senate.

One lawmaker said it is likely to win the support of the Democratic majority in part because of goodwill toward Villaraigosa, a former Assembly speaker.

"It's juiced up and it's happening," said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the lower house's Education Committee.

Goldberg said she hasn't decided yet whether to support the bill and hopes to hold at least one informational hearing in Los Angeles.

In the coming weeks, Villaraigosa will have to fight on two fronts, one in Los Angeles, the other in Sacramento.

Several local civic groups, including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, are watching the unfolding debate as they ponder their own positions.

The Valley organization's directors said Tuesday that they doubted that Villaraigosa's plan would lead to an increased role for the mayor or a path toward breakup of the district, the two viable options in its view.

"There is no evidence that this plan has been thought through," said Bob Scott, the Valley group's chairman. "This seems to make everything more complicated rather than simpler."



NCLB VOUCHER PLAN INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS

From BoardBuzz, the WebBlog of the National School Boards Association

July 18, 2006 - Lest anyone doubted that private school vouchers would be front and center in the debate to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) a leading group of senators and representatives joined U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today to announce otherwise. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and John Ensign (R-NV) and Representatives Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Sam Johnson (R-TX), introduced legislation today to establish a national voucher program proposed by President Bush in his FY2007 budget request to Congress.

Although the House Appropriations Committee voted last month to provide no money for the program and the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to do likewise this week, the introduction of legislation to establish the program is a new front in the battle to create vouchers on a broader scale. The president has requested between $50 million and $100 million for voucher programs in each budget he has sent to Congress but lawmakers have refused to go along. NSBA opposes private school vouchers.

The new legislation is linked to NCLB as it would offer vouchers worth up to $4,000 per student for students in public schools identified for "restructuring" because of not making "Adequate Yearly Progress" in NCLB. Although public school performance under NCLB would serve as the trigger for the voucher, private schools would be eligible to receive taxpayer dollars without facing equal public accountability.

Asked point blank today about the bill's chances in a Congressional session whose days are rapidly dwindling, Chairman McKeon said he does not see the measure passing this year but that proponents are looking ahead to NCLB's reauthorization, scheduled for next year.

New NAEP study generates talk
Meanwhile, the public release last Friday of a new U.S. Department of Education study examining public and private school students' math and reading scores on the 2003 NAEP continues to generate heat, and reporters at today's voucher press conference wanted to know more. The study found that after controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors public school students perform about evenly with private school students. Specifically, public school students outperformed private school pupils by a statistically significant margin on 4th grade math, were outperformed by private school pupils by a statistically signficant margin on 8th grade reading, and performed about equally to private school students on 4th grade reading and 8th grade math. The new findings build on 2005 research showing public schools outperforming private schools when student/family characteristics are considered.

The findings also undercut an underlying argument for vouchers that private schools, simply by being private, are superior to public schools. Sensing that, and apparently quite unhappy with a Wall Street Journal article headlined "Long-Delayed Education Study Casts Doubt on Value of Vouchers," top voucher advocates have responded swiftly, attempting to downplay the study.

Among the arguments put forth by detractors of the study is that public schools outspend private schools and that may have something to do with the difference in achievement. Seriously. Voucher advocates are actually raising the issue of spending on education possibly having an impact on student achievement. Spending on private school education anyway.

This whole flare up over NAEP scores has an eerily similar feel to it, as well as the interesting arguments by common critics of traditional public schools. Remember the great charter school NAEP brouhaha from two years ago? Refresh your memory here.

Seems to us that the bottom line is actually a pretty simple one. Schools, be they traditional public, public charter, private or religious, all come in different flavors. Some are excellent, some are good, some are just plain okay, and some are lousy. But the country's primary responsibility is to ensure that the public schools, open to all students and which for decades have educated 90 percent of the nation's students, are as good as they possibly can be. Divesting in them by channeling public dollars to private schools that do not accept all students and are not publicly accountable is counterproductive.


14% OF LAUSD SENIORS FLUNK EXIT TEST: Results may affect district leadership tussle
by Rachel Uranga, Staff Writer, LA Daily News

July 22, 2006 - North Hollywood - In the first year of mandatory testing, 14 percent of LAUSD's senior class failed the High School Exit Exam, compared with 9 percent statewide, fueling the debate over the district's future leadership.

The latest figures were released Friday and reflect the results of math and English-language exams administered in May, the final testing date before 2006 commencements. Statewide, some 40,000 students did not pass the test in time to graduate with their classmates.

"These are the students who have multiple opportunities to pass," said Esther Wong, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District. "This is a challenging group of students, but our district refuses to give up (on) these students."

California Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, who announced the state results at a news conference at North Hollywood High, said the state will be adding testing dates, including some Saturdays, throughout the year to provide more opportunities for students to pass.

The scores come as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa jockeys for greater control over LAUSD, which is struggling to bring up student test scores and lower its dropout rate.

And while local figures were unavailable, statewide results show that poor students and English-language learners continue to lag behind their classmates.

Still, O'Connell maintained that the controversial test will help LAUSD and other districts laser in on problem areas.

"I credit the High School Exit Exam with bringing more focus, more attention and more sunshine to the work that still needs to be done," he said.

But for some of the students attending summer school Friday at North Hollywood High, the goal of getting a diploma seems unattainable.

"It's so frustrating for me, it seems impossible," said Celia Benegas, a 21-year-old Honduran immigrant who has taken the CAHSEE six times and was studying to take it again next week.

"We come here and we don't know English and the English we do know is so different," she said.

Students in the Class of 2006 were the first who must pass the exit exam, administered to 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders.

Students can take the test a total of seven times, once their sophomore year and three times each in their junior and senior years. If they don't pass by June, they must attend summer school, with another opportunity to pass the test after that.

If they don't pass the test after summer school, they must attend adult school and take the test until they pass.

The state has poured about $70 million into boot camps and other after-school programs intended to boost test scores. Still, about 5 percent of all the state's students did not graduate this year because they failed the test.

▲smf notes 2 things: 1. "Tussle" is the 4LAKids vocabulary word of the week! When before did you ever see "tussle" in a headline? 2. Do the math: One needs to pass the test to graduate. 9% of the state's seniors failed he test, but "about 5 percent of all the state's students did not graduate this year because they failed the test." What happened to the other 4%?


EVENTS/Coming up next week: THE ONE ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE HEARING IN LOS ANGELES ON THURSDAY RE: AB 1381

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN 4LAKids! Due to some extraordinary parliamentary maneuvering, political arm twisting and extreme hardball by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Mayor of Los Angeles – both committed beyond doubt to involving parents and the community in public debate - the three Assembly Education Committee Hearings on AB 1381 – The Mayor's/UTLA/CTA Plan for LAUSD Governance - previously scheduled and reported in 4LAKids as being next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday throughout LA have been reduced to a single hearing on Thursday:

Date: Thursday, July 27, 2006
Time: 5:30 to 8:30 PM

This meeting is the only opportunity for parents, classroom teachers principals and other community members to address legislators about AB 1381 in the Los Angeles area. Make your voice heard.

Location:
Irving Middle School
3010 Estara, LA 90065

For more information: 213-241-7000 or 323-258-0450


The hearing starts at 5:30 BUT PLEASE PLAN TO BE THERE EARLY (BEFORE 5 PM) to sign up if you want to speak. THIS IS THE ONE CHANCE TO HEAR AND BE HEARD ON AB 1381 IN LOS ANGELES.

Be one with the tussle!


[map to Irving Middle School]



What can YOU do?
►CONTACT YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON AND STATE SENATOR [link below to find them]. Tell them what you think about their wasting their time, effort and the taxpayer's money on the mayor's attempt at takeover or makeover – an effort that is patently unconstitutional and will never survive a court challenge. Their time, the mayor's time, the board of education's time – all of our time, thinking and hard work - is better spent working together rather than at odds to continue and support the very real efforts at reform already begun. Their time is better spent helping LAUSD find a new superintendent, guaranteeing an improved funding stream for all California schools and helping kids in the classroom, on the playground; during, before and after school.

• LAUSD ASSEMBLY DELEGATION
Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Montanez@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Levine@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Pavley@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Koretz@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Frommer@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Liu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Nunez@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Bass@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Ridley-Thomas@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Chu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Horton@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Lieu@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Karnette@assembly.ca.gov
Assemblymember.Oropeza@assembly.ca.gov

• LAUSD SENATE DELEGATION
Senator.Alarcon@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Scott@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Cedillo@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Kuehl@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Vincent@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Murray@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Lowenthal@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Bowen@senate.ca.gov
Senator.Escutia@senate.ca.gov

• TO DETERMINE WHO YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON & SENATOR IS & GET THEIR ADDRESS PHONE & FAX NUMBERS:
http://192.234.213.69/smapsearch/framepage.asp


• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
Monica.Garcia@LAUSD.net • 213-241-6180
Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Mike.Lansing@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Jon.Lauritzen@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
David.Tokofsky@lausd.net • 213-241-6383

...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think!
Call or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• Vote.



Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?




Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council.
• In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
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