School Districts New York City

The head of the nation's largest school system, accusing New York's Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of "nothing short of blackmail," resigned suddenly Friday in what appeared to be a classic political struggle. Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines, in a bitter letter, announced that he would step down in June after Giuliani appointed a special monitor Friday to oversee the Board of Education's budget. New York's new mayor, who faces a $2.

The head of the nation's largest school system, accusing New York's Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of "nothing short of blackmail," resigned suddenly Friday in what appeared to be a classic political struggle. Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines, in a bitter letter, announced that he would step down in June after Giuliani appointed a special monitor Friday to oversee the Board of Education's budget. New York's new mayor, who faces a $2.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said he and legislative leaders had reached a tentative budget compromise that could provide additional aid to New York City and the state's 700 school districts. New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins has said additional state aid is crucial to producing a balanced budget.

The school board Tuesday approved the hiring of Ramon C. Cortines as senior deputy superintendent -- the No. 2 position -- of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The veteran educator will leave his post as a Los Angeles deputy mayor to head day-to-day operations at the nation's second-largest school system. Cortines, 75, formerly headed the school districts in New York City, San Francisco and San Jose. For six months in 2000, he served as interim chief of L.A. Unified. Cortines agreed to an at-will contract, meaning he will serve at the pleasure of Supt.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said Saturday that he and legislative leaders had reached a tentative budget compromise that could provide additional aid to New York City and the state's 700 school districts. New York City's fiscal year begins Monday and Mayor David N. Dinkins has said additional state aid is crucial to producing a balanced budget for the financially ailing city.

To the classic three R's of education, add a major fourth: revolvers. The disturbing statistics in tonight's half-hour MTV special, "Generation Under the Gun" (at 9 p.m.), suggest that illegal gun ownership is about as rampant as sexual activity among urban teens. With a cited Harris poll indicating one in every 25 high-schoolers has actually carried a gun to school , Bosnia doesn't seem so exotic. At least beleaguered L.A. doesn't take any more hits from the program.

Strong leaders hire talented executives. Supt. David L. Brewer's hiring of Ramon C. Cortines as chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Unified School District gives Brewer such an executive and demonstrates a welcome commitment to tackle the many problems the district faces. Cortines -- with his experience heading school districts in New York City, San Francisco, San Jose and, for a short time, L.A.

President Clinton's effort to establish national education standards to ensure that American schoolchildren master fundamental skills has drawn mixed reaction from California educators and parents. The testing plan is the centerpiece of the Clinton administration's education reform agenda. It calls for uniform tests in reading for all fourth-graders and in math for eighth-graders. The plan has won support from 15 major school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, New York City and Chicago.

Dealing with its alarmingly high dropout rate should be a higher priority than test scores for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Ramon C. Cortines said in his first interview since being named senior deputy superintendent Tuesday. Because students who drop out often are low achievers, he warned, keeping them in school could well impede -- at least initially -- a rise in test scores.

In a dramatic turn for the country's second-largest school district, Los Angeles Unified released school ratings based on a new approach that measures a school's success at raising student performance — the first in a series of high-stakes moves that will thrust the district into the center of the national debate over education reform. Next month, the district will take the more controversial step of providing thousands of teachers with confidential ratings of their performance using the same approach, known as value-added.

The Los Angeles school district's effort to identify teachers suspected of misconduct has been complicated by a little-known clause in the teachers' contracts that limits how long allegations can remain in a teacher's file. Under the contract, alleged misconduct that does not result in discipline is removed from personnel files after four years. The provision dates to the early 1990s when the L.A. Unified School District agreed to it in exchange for teachers taking a 10% pay cut. The arrangement is unusual, but not unheard of. Many other school districts, including New York City, Long Beach, Fresno, Sacramento City and San Diego, for example, can keep teachers' discipline records indefinitely.