School Takeover Plan Opposed by Dymally

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who heads the state Legislature’s black caucus, said Sunday that he opposes Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to gain substantial authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Dymally’s announcement, made to The Times through a spokeswoman, came the day after an “emergency� meeting of the caucus at the Renaissance Montura Hotel Los Angeles near the airport.

The meeting lasted two hours and included four of the six black state lawmakers as well as two members of Congress, Maxine Waters and Diane Watson, both of Los Angeles. All are Democrats.

Participants interviewed for this article said they were worried that the plan would diminish African American influence in a school district that educates tens of thousands of African Americans.

“African Americans were silent because they were not included on issues that directly affect African American children,� said Dymally spokeswoman Jasmyne Cannick.

The group, which also included Assemblymen Jerome Horton of Inglewood and Mark Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles, and state Sen. Ed Vincent of Inglewood, discussed whether to take a united stand against the bill, but it was unclear Sunday whether all of the participants were persuaded to oppose it. Assembly Bill 1381 must first get through the state Senate and then the Assembly by Thursday, the last day of the legislative session. The bill remains an odds-on favorite because it has the support of the Democratic leaders in each house, both of which are dominated by Democrats.

The mayor and his staff insist they have welcomed all input. Villaraigosa’s personal outreach has included visits to black churches and a recent meeting with Waters. At the time, Waters seemed to have been won over, saying, “I’m prepared to work with the mayor.� Waters could not be reached Sunday.

One concern, Watson said, is that the bill would weaken the influence of school board member Marguerite LaMotte, the only African American elected official who directly represents L.A. Unified students.

Under the Villaraigosa plan, some of the school board’s authority would go to the district superintendent. Other powers would transfer to Villaraigosa through a proposed “council of mayors� that he would dominate. The council of mayors also would lack an African American elected official, Watson said.

Although there are whites and Latinos among the mayors who would be represented, no African Americans would serve on the council. Although L.A. Unified is overwhelmingly Latino, nearly 83,000 students, or 11.4% of the total, are black.

Watson said black leaders also are concerned by a particular provision of the mayor’s plan that would give Villaraigosa direct authority over three high schools -- as yet unnamed -- and their feeder schools. They worry that extra resources provided to these schools would come at the expense of other schools that are equally in need.

*

Times staff writer Nancy Vogel also contributed to this report.