It's true. The mayor of Los Angeles has no direct control over city schools. Yet voters consistently list education among their top concerns and vote for the candidate who they think can help. Sometimes, a reason is not an excuse.
Richard Riordan, in office from 1993 to 2001, gave us a clue as to what an energized mayor committed to education reform could accomplish, sans official portfolio. We'd like Mayor James K. Hahn and challenger Antonio Villaraigosa to spell out what they would do -- what they believe they could do.
Beefing up city-sponsored after-school programs -- Hahn's sole first-term education claim -- isn't enough. His predecessor, Riordan, did the same without the fanfare, as part of a much bigger agenda.
The mayor ought to have more than a passing acquaintance with Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Roy Romer.
He should use his bully pulpit to prod businesses, churches, community groups and city agencies to critique and sponsor schools and mentor kids. He ought to have enough social savvy to tap the wealth of this city's entertainment, philanthropic and corporate sectors on behalf of education. He should creatively link schools with neighborhoods and work on ways to keep more campuses open after-hours as community resources.
In short, the mayor needs to be a visionary advocate, willing to press for radical change and engage a cynical populace on behalf of the struggling school system.
That would require fearlessness, maneuvering beyond the rules and some flexing of muscle.
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Woo, Shame, Fight
It won't be easy. Mayors in Chicago, New York and other big cities have power over schools built into their jobs; they can force wholesale change almost by fiat.
Riordan at least thought big and tapped his business cronies to fund campaigns that gave the school board a progressive majority, which hired Romer and adopted reforms that led to test-score gains. Romer muscled through a building boom that created thousands of new classroom seats.
That progressive majority no longer exists, and Los Angeles' mayor ought to be hectoring a school board -- with its union lackeys and political climbers -- that can dither for hours over how long meetings should last, but can't make a decision about helping high schools that are so bad only one in 10 students is proficient in math.
A mayor should campaign to get teachers, and particularly their union, to stop blocking change and lead the charge. Woo them, shame them, fight them when necessary.
