Learning From LA Unified

Fascinating to see what's going on in LA about mayoral control -- especially how New York, not Chicago, is used as the model for a mayoral takeover, and how the "new" LAUSD might be set up as a series of smaller fiefdoms.  Sort of like what AIOs are turning into.

Details of Schools Takeover Emerge LA Times
As mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pursues control of the Los Angeles school ssytem, his advisors are considering wide-ranging changes that could gut the central bureaucracy, sell the district's headquarters, keep students in class until 5 PM, and extend the academic year to 10 1/2 months.

Detroit Leaning LA City Beat
In recent weeks, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a made a show of traveling to Chicago and New York to talk to mayors Richard Daley and Michael Bloomberg, respectively, about how to follow their lead and shift control of L.A.’s public schools to his office.

The Battle for LA Unified LA Weekly
The increasingly bitter battle for control of L.A. Unified enters its next phase on Tuesday with Villaraigosa’s State of the City speech, an address normally used to unveil a brand-new municipal budget, but this year one that will serve as a high-profile vehicle for Villaraigosa’s much-promised mayoral authority. The speech is expected to feature the outlines not only of the school-district takeover plan, but also the mayor’s strategy for improving L.A. Unified.

Theories of Devolution LA Weekly
Two different drafts of Villaraigosa’s public school reform plan — both crafted over the past three weeks — call for selling off the L.A. Unified headquarters at 333 S. Beaudry Ave. and giving power to as many as 80 local superintendents, each of whom would oversee mini-districts containing between 8,000 and 20,000 students. The local superintendents would report to four general managers, who in turn would answer to the superintendent, according to the two proposals.