State Supreme Court is asked to rule on control of LAUSD 

Both sides in the continuing legal battle over control of the Los Angeles Unified School District have asked that the case proceed directly to the state Supreme Court.

A group of district parents, joined by the district, CSBA and its Education Legal Alliance and other parties successfully sued last year to halt Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s bid to take on much of the authority now exercised by the seven-member elected school board. Agreeing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs issued a year-end ruling that Assembly Bill 1381, the state law that would have shifted authority from the school board to a Council of Mayors—dominated by Villaraigosa—and the district superintendent, was unconstitutional. Villaraigosa’s lawyers appealed that decision, and they asked that the case go straight to the Supreme Court instead of through an intermediate appellate court.

The district parents and their allies, including CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance, agreed Jan. 18, reasoning that the issue should be expedited to resolve the lingering uncertainty about the district’s fate. AB 1381 was to take effect Jan. 1, and Villaraigosa has argued that he at least should be able to proceed with a demonstration project giving him direct control over three high schools and their feeder schools—with as many as 80,000 students—while his appeal went forward.

“Having the California Supreme Court make the final determination on AB 1381 will allow everyone to focus on the real and important work of improving outcomes for LAUSD students,” Marlene Canter, president of LAUSD’s Board of Education, said in a statement posted on the district Web site. “Our students and parents are the ones who are harmed by the uncertainty in resolving this dispute. They deserve to have final resolution of these issues.”