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Hmm. This will incite more grumbles that the mayor's trip to Sacramento was at least partly a choreographed show. Villaraigosa, Democratic leaders in the Legislature and the teachers unions today revealed "a historic agreement in principle" on a bill that will create the Council of Mayors that Villaraigosa proposed and give him a say in selection of the LAUSD superintendent. The Board of Education will remain part of the district's governance. Details to come, but State Sen. Gloria Romero and Speaker Fabian Núñez will carry the bill. "We always supported a partnership between the Mayor, the school district, teachers and parents," UTLA president A.J. Duffy said at the press conference. From Villaraigosa's statement:
We've reached a common consensus that our schools in LA are in a dire state of crisis, and we can't continue to conduct business as usual.We share the conviction that fixing our schools is the civil rights issue of our time.
We know that California will not prosper if we allow our state's largest school district to languish in mediocrity.
And we agree that it's time to get out from behind our traditional defenses and partisan fortifications* to lock arms, and to try things a new way.