Mayor, L.A. Unified back in court to renew battle over school control

Attorneys for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Unified School District were back in court Wednesday fighting over whether Villaraigosa should be allowed to proceed with plans to take partial control of the school district despite a legal ruling last month that gutted his effort.

Lawyers for the district -- frustrated by what they view as an attempt by Villaraigosa to skirt the legal ruling -- urged Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs to reaffirm her Dec. 21 decision.

Janavs had ruled that a new state law that gave Villaraigosa significant control over the district violated the state Constitution and the Los Angeles City Charter. She ordered public officials “to refrain from enforcing or implementing” any part of the measure, Assembly Bill 1381, which was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

Attorneys representing Villaraigosa and other parties have appealed Janavs’ ruling. Citing case law, they argued that her decision automatically would be put on hold until the higher court rules.

Villaraigosa’s legal counsel, Thomas Saenz, downplayed the effect of the legal maneuvering.

“It’s a skirmish about what goes on until the appeal is decided,” Saenz said.

But the district’s attorneys assailed the legal strategy. In strongly worded papers, they argued that the filing of an appeal by the mayor did not automatically trigger a stay of Janavs’ ruling. Villaraigosa’s lawyers were “severely mistaken in their interpretation of the governing legal principles,” they wrote in papers filed with the court Wednesday.

“It’s a pretty brazen decision for them to take,” said Fredric D. Woocher, a private attorney who is representing the district.

The wrangling turns on arcane legal interpretations of Janavs’ ruling.

In a motion seeking an expedited appeal last week, the mayor’s lawyers asserted that Janavs’ “directive is stayed pending appeal.”

District lawyers are challenging that view. They argue that halting a decision can be undertaken only if a specific standard is met. That standard comes into play, the lawyers say, only when an order requires the losing party to take specific action.

By contrast, Janavs’ ruling simply prohibits AB 1381 from taking effect, the district’s lawyers said.

One legal scholar who specializes in appeals said the issue at stake was a perplexing one that also was hard for courts to decipher.

“It’s a very confusing distinction,” said Daniel Koes, a Pasadena lawyer who teaches at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. “It’s hard to distinguish between whether the court is requiring something to be done or prohibiting something.”

Even if Janavs doesn’t buy their reasoning, district lawyers still argued that she should reaffirm her decision. Putting it on hold, they argued, would impair the district’s ability to conduct its business, including hiring and budgeting.

Given the complexity of the issues, the judge put off a decision until next Thursday.

As the two sides squared off in Superior Court, Villaraigosa’s legal team was seeking to expedite its appeal. Saenz said that attorneys would ask the California Supreme Court, perhaps as early as today, to take the appeal directly, rather than going first to an appeals court. A typical appeal can take 18 months or more.

But even a rapid appeal might not leave Villaraigosa’s education advisors adequate time to gear up for the reform that is at the heart of his agenda: taking over three high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them.

Under AB 1381, Villaraigosa and L.A. Unified’s superintendent are supposed to select the first of those “clusters” by Feb. 1 and the second by March 1. Though Villaraigosa and Supt. David L. Brewer have met regularly to discuss mutual goals for the district, they have not talked specifically about identifying clusters, Deputy Mayor Ramon C. Cortines said. Brewer believes that Janavs’ decision stands until an appeals court weighs in, said Don Davis, his chief of staff.

Cortines said that the continuing delays caused by the lawsuit could make it impossible for officials to meet looming deadlines to have the clusters ready for launch in July, the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.

Even if Villaraigosa wins on appeal next month, Cortines said, “We would be hard-pressed to get one cluster up and running. We don’t have the proper time ... to make sure what we begin with is the best thinking based on best practices. There’s no quick fix.”

duke.helfand@latimes.com

joel.rubin@latimes.com