Antonio [Villaraigosa] Launches Website to push for LAUSD Reform
06/30/2006
By Rick Orlov
LA Daily News
Stepping up his campaign to push reform of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a Web site Thursday that he hopes will bring together an army of parents to put pressure on state officials.
At a news conference at a South Los Angeles charter school, where officials said they have been in a constant fight with the LAUSD administration, Villaraigosa and supporters said they were fighting the status quo of an entrenched bureaucracy in what one called a moral war.
Villaraigosa said the site - www.excellenceinlaschools.com - will serve as a clearinghouse for information on his plan.
"There has been a lot of misinformation put out about what we are doing," Villaraigosa said. "This will be a place were we can counter that and also where people can come together to voice their opinions on what is needed."
The mayor said he believes he has tapped into broad public dissatisfaction with the LAUSD, but needs wide support to get his reform legislation approved and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger.
Th bill, AB 1381, passed its first committee vote Wednesday in the stateenate but still has at least one more committee review before it will beconsidered by the full Senate and then go to the Assembly to review.
"We are not over by a long shot," Villaraigosa said. "It is going to be a fight all the way."
The mayor was joined by City Councilman Jose Huizar, who served on the district's school board until this year, when he was elected to the council.
"I can tell you from personal experience that there is no accountability over there," Huizar said. "I can tell you from personal experience that there is resistance to even examining change."
Huizar said he ran into strong opposition when he joined then-City Council President Alex Padilla to create a commission to review how the district is run.
"People think we are doing this as a dollars-and-cents issue, that it will be good for the economy or find jobs for young people," Huizar said. "But this is more than that. This is a moral issue on how we treat our children."