SACRAMENTO — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to assert significant control over the Los Angeles Unified School District cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, with state lawmakers voting 7-1 in support of his plan despite expressing deep reservations.
In one of many critical comments by members of the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) told Villaraigosa, "In looking at this bill, it's going to be more top-down than it's ever been with you in charge.... There is less engagement by parents, the school boards become rubber stamps ... all of which is not, in my opinion, what everyone wants."
Other lawmakers questioned whether the mayor's plan would add to bureaucracy, leaving it unclear just who is in charge of the nation's second-largest public school system. Some worried that the bill might violate the state Constitution, and they questioned whether residents in the district should have a chance to vote on the plan.
Still, after applauding Villaraigosa's passion for seeking to improve public schools, Speier and six of her fellow committee Democrats voted to pass the bill, while one Republican opposed it and two others abstained. One Democrat did not attend.
The measure would give Villaraigosa and a "council of mayors" from other district cities final say on the school board's choice of a superintendent, and that official would have new authority over the district's $7.4-billion budget and school construction program. It would also give the Los Angeles mayor direct control over three troubled high schools and dozens of elementary and middle schools.
The bill embodies a deal that Villaraigosa struck earlier this month with the California Teachers Assn. and United Teachers of Los Angeles -- powerful unions that had strenuously opposed his original call for a complete mayoral takeover. On Wednesday, both the mayor and top school district leaders traveled to the Capitol to appear before the committee.
L.A. Unified Supt. Roy Romer testified against the bill in sometimes testy exchanges with the mayor. Romer said he and the seven-member elected school board faced a "stacked deck" because the bill has the backing of legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But "there was great anxiety" among Education Committee members, Romer said afterward. "You could tell from their questions. This is the beginning of several chapters of this struggle."
