LAUSD CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM BILL ("LEGAL" AB 1381)

"LEGAL" AB 1381 (SCHOOL REFORM BILL)

UNDER STATE AND LOCAL LAW WHEREAS, the provisions of AB 1381 have been declared to be violative of the Charter of the City of Los Angeles and the California Constitution;

and WHEREAS, there remains a pressing need for reform and innovation in how public educational services are delivered to the children of Los Angeles;

and WHEREAS, Los Angeles Unified School District has yet to come up with workable, viable alternatives which would significantly alter the status quo in a meaningful way;

and WHEREAS, it is in the public interest of the citizens of Los Angeles to have a vibrant open debate on the issue of how the delivery of public educational services can be made to be more effective, efficient, responsive, and reflective of the needs of the various diverse communities that live within Los Angeles;

and WHEREAS, the Mayor of Los Angeles has expressed his willingness and determination to be a catalyst for true reform and innovation in how public educational services are delivered to the our citizens;

and WHEREAS, any such reforms which involve the City of Los Angeles or its officers in the administration and operation of the public schools must be both constitutional, consistent with the Charter of Los Angeles, and incorporate an appropriate measure of checks and balances between the Mayor and the City Council so that an undue amount of unchecked power is not concentrated in the hands of the executive;

I THEREFORE MOVE TO:

1. Instruct the City Attorney to draft and report back to the City Council within 45 days a Charter Amendment which would empower the Mayor, together with the Los Angeles City Council, to preside over and operate one or more high school clusters of public schools, or individual schools chartered under the auspices and authority of either the State Board of Education, the County Board of Education, or the Los Angeles Unified School District;

2. Instruct the City Attorney to draft and report back to the City Council within 45 days a set of proposed ordinances which would provide for the following governance structure:

a. A “Charter School Commission” consisting of seven members appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles and approved by the City Council, who would review all charter applications and advise the Mayor and Council with regard to the operation of any charter schools so established, with a guarantee and requirement that at least one member be a city resident whose child is currently enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District; one member be an educator; one member be a representative from the business community, and one member be a classroom teacher;

b. That provision be made for the establishment of an Office of Inspector General of the Charter School Commission, whose funding is to be established by way of a separate budgetary allocation from the Los Angeles City Council and approved by the Mayor, and whose office shall be empowered with full investigative authority of any kind and consequence, including, but not limited to subpoena power, as relates to the operation and administration of the Charter Public Schools over which the Mayor and Council are to exercise control;

c. That provision be made for full financial accountability and transparency with regard to the operation and administration of the Charter Public Schools over which the Mayor and Council are to exercise control by requiring the preparation and public dissemination on an annual basis of a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flow for each high school cluster as a whole as well as each individual school within the high school cluster based on accounting criteria and rules used by companies whose stock is publicly traded;

d. That provision be made in the draft ordinances for the specific authority and a suggested protocol by which Neighborhood Councils could enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with either a High School Charter Complex or one or more individual schools within the High School Charter complex as part of the implementation of one or more reforms, innovations, or efficiencies in how public educational services are to be delivered; and

e. That provision be made for the Los Angeles City Council to retain final authority over the siting of schools and the approval of Charter School operators, and for the Mayor of Los Angeles to be empowered to exercise full operational authority over the administration and operation of those public charter schools and high school complexes so established under the protocol and lawful authority attendant to this motion and the implementing legislation and charter amendments authorized by this motion;

3. That the City Attorney be further directed to draft proposed state legislation for submission to the Council for approval and transmittal to the California State Legislature which would specify the nature and content of the Constitutional amendment required to ensure that the governing protocol contemplated by this motion is lawful; together with the City Attorney's recommendations as to the nature and content of the implementing state legislation which would be needed in order to lawfully authorize Charter Cities like Los Angeles to operate Charter Schools under the auspices of the State Board of Education, a County Board of Education, or a local school district.

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Presidential Election '08: Year of the Blogs

Presidential Election '08: Year of the Blogs

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