Judge Slaps Down Antonio: AB 1381 Unconstitutional
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Well, that's that.
All Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's months of careful politicking on behalf of AB 1381's forward-looking (but Antonio-centric) restructuring of the terminally dysfunctional L.A. Unified School District just got kicked out of the lawbooks in court.
Superior Court Judge Dzintra Danavs "found the entire law defective and ordered public officials "to refrain from enforcing or implementing" any part of it," the L.A. Times reports ...
The whole thing will likely enjoy a second hearing in Supreme Court, but the pro-AB1381 forces will have a hell of a fight on their hands, considering the heart of Danavs' ruling:
The thrust of the bill - shifting power from the Board of Education into the hands of (primarily) the city's mayor - violates multiple sections of the California Constitution.
The Daily News also supplied this pithy quote from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez:
"I am very disappointed with the court's ruling today on AB 1381," Nunez said in a written statement. "Legal hairsplitting has prevailed over the interests of children."
"But regardless of how subsequent courts may view this decision it is imperative that the district leadership join hands with Mayor Villaraigosa to begin the critical task of creating a world class public school system for the children of Los Angeles."
So - where next? We're back where we started: With a school board that has managed to help L.A. become one of the worst-educated cities in the nation, and a new superintendent whose major on-the-job experience with education of any kind has been entirely military - can we hope for better public schools for L.A.'s kids?
(Tiny ray of hope: Keep an eye on the Los Angeles Parents' Union. We're going to try to do what we can - even if it's only one improving and transforming one school at a time.)
