Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa takes aim at teachers' union contract in State of the City

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wednesday said he intends to push for dramatic changes in the contract between the Los Angeles Unified School District and its powerful teachers union this year. Villaraigosa delivered his message in his annual State of the City address.

Villaraigosa said the stars are aligned to make fundamental changes in the management of the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District – the nation’s second largest.

“New superintendent, newly elected school board, newly elected union leadership," Villaraigosa said. "We have an opportunity to move forward in good faith, focusing on areas where we share common ground.”

The mayor delivered his address at Jefferson High School in South L.A. It’s a place that once struggled with racial tensions and low test scores. Villaraigosa said both have improved because the district’s given administrators and teachers more freedom to make decisions through its Public Schools Choice program.

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The mayor said it's time to provide that same freedom across the district by changing its contract with United Teachers Los Angeles. It’s up for renegotiation in June.

“We need to reform a broken tenure system and do away with a last-hired/first-fired seniority system," Villaraigosa said. "Its demoralizing to teachers and doesn’t serve our students.”

The mayor, a former teachers union activist who is now one of its sharpest critics, also said he wants student test scores included in teacher evaluations.

Outgoing teachers union president A.J. Duffy has opposed that, and said it’s wrong to blame the teachers union contract for the district’s troubles.

The mayor doesn’t have direct control over the district, but his allies make up a majority of the school board. Board President Monica Garcia, whom Villaraigosa raised money to elect, said the changes he proposes won’t be easy.

“We will have some conflicts," Garcia said. "But we know that teacher membership has been coming forward saying 'give me the authority to exercise my professional judgment in the classroom.'”

The mayor’s focus on education returned him to a theme on which voters first elected him six years ago. But his State of the City address couldn’t ignore the biggest issue that faces L.A. city government – its more than $350 million budget deficit.

“Our budget will propose a series of deep, permanent and strategic reductions in city spending," the mayor warned.

Villaraigosa offered few details, but did offer some good news – he wants to provide money to reopen libraries on Mondays and add park space.

He promised another budget item too. “Yes, Angelenos, I’ve heard you loud and clear, it will fill 300,000 potholes – a 20 percent increase over last year."

The comment garnered loud applause from the political leaders, city managers, community activists and business leaders in the crowd.

City Councilman Paul Krekorian said he liked the idea of filling more potholes. “But I’m going to be fascinated and interested to see how he can do that... without having devastating cuts in other areas, or increased revenues," Krekorian said.

The mayor’s proposed budget is due next week. Aides have said he hopes labor unions representing police officers and firefighters will increase their health care contributions to ease the deficit.

Outside Jefferson High School’s auditorium, a small group of activists who work on homeless and youth issues denounced what they called the mayor’s misplaced budget priorities.

Becky Dennison of the Los Angeles Community Action Network said he should make deeper cuts in the police department, which uses half the city’s general fund.

“Even with just a 1 percent cut to LAPD’s budget, we can put hundreds of intervention programs into place for youth," Dennison said.

The mayor, his police chief and most of the L.A. City Council have said cutting the LAPD more would jeopardize one of the biggest crime drops in L.A. history.