WASHINGTON — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accelerated his drive Thursday to take over the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District, announcing for the first time that he wants full control in two years and will unveil a detailed reform plan in three months.
In recent weeks, Villaraigosa has assembled a team of advisors who are beginning to draft a plan to take on the elected school board and the city's powerful teachers union to win voter approval for a takeover.
This week, Villaraigosa and key aides launched a blitz of speeches to begin to lay the foundation for the coming campaign.
Schools takeover -- An article on Friday's front page about Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to gain control of the schools said Councilman Tony Cardenas had proposed an alternative plan that would professionalize the school board and expand it to 13 elected members. In fact, the plan was proposed by Jose Cornejo, Cardenas' chief of staff, whom Cardenas appointed to a joint council-school board education reform panel.
At a conference of mayors in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, Villaraigosa argued that the district is failing its 727,000 students. He also consulted with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who have oversight of their school boards.
"I am more convinced than ever after talking with Mayor Daley that this is the right course for Los Angeles, as it was for Chicago, New York and Boston," Villaraigosa said Thursday in an interview. "A great city has to have as its anchor a great public school system."
While Villaraigosa took advantage of the national exposure to argue for mayoral control, two key advisors began making the case in Los Angeles -- on Tuesday before the education committee of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and on Thursday before influential local educators.
Before he left for Washington, Villaraigosa met Monday with his panel of education advisors and expressed confidence that he will triumph, saying that he will wield his popularity against the little-known members of the school board to win voters' support. "I'm the guy that can get it done," Villaraigosa said, according to people who attended the closed session.
Villaraigosa, advisors and other sources say, has come to believe that virtually every aspect of his agenda -- from economic development to public safety -- will fail unless he gains control of L.A. Unified.
In speeches and media interviews while he attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Villaraigosa maintained that he must control the schools because their success is critical to the city's success. The city economy counts on the schools' producing skilled, educated workers, he said, and failure in schools creates poverty and other social ills.
- Villaraigosa Pushes for Audit of L.A. Unified Apr 04, 2006
- Mayor's Wife Chosen for Early Childhood Panel Sep 02, 2005
- L.A. Unified joins mayor in asking for hearing Jan 19, 2007
