School Board Delays Vote on Consent Decree

A divided Los Angeles school board decided Monday to postpone a vote on an agreement to settle a landmark lawsuit aimed at rectifying years of alleged inequities between schools in middle-class and poor neighborhoods.

A majority of board members said they supported in principle the proposed consent decree, which would settle a 5-year-old lawsuit that alleges the district has discriminated against poor and minority students through an unequal allocation of resources and funding. If approved, the settlement could have as far-reaching an impact as the decision to desegregate schools and implement mandatory busing more than a decade ago.

But after nearly four hours of discussion, the board decided to put off a final vote until next Monday.

“I want to do everything possible not to end up in court on this,” board President Warren Furutani said of the delay, which will give plaintiffs and community members time to discuss changes in the decree, including an amendment passed on Monday. “I think with the decree as amended, we’ll be able to get as much support as possible.”

The lawsuit, Rodriguez et al vs. the Los Angeles Unified School District, was filed in 1986 by a coalition of law firms representing four black and Latino parents. The suit contends that poor and minority children have received an inferior education because of patterns that concentrate younger, lower-paid teachers in their neighborhood schools and more experienced, higher-paid teachers in predominantly Anglo areas. The suit alleges that the district spends as much as $400 a year less per pupil on schools that serve predominantly poor and minority children.

The proposed settlement, announced last November, would require each school to spend the same amount per pupil to pay for such things as classroom supplies and teacher salaries. Schools would have five years to bring their spending within $100 of the district average.

The new parity would mean that schools with a substantial proportion of highly paid veteran teachers would have to balance their staffs with lower-paid employees, which district officials say could be accomplished through attrition as veteran instructors retire.

But officials of United Teachers-Los Angeles have said they fear the proposal could result in mandatory teacher transfers, a practice now largely prohibited under their contract.

The amendment approved Monday would bar transfer of teachers or other employees without the consent of their collective bargaining representatives. The amendment also states that the board would be in compliance if 90% of the district’s schools have met the equality standards by 1997-98.

The changes are subject to approval by the plaintiffs. Both sides are scheduled to go before a Superior Court judge March 18 to present the decree for final approval.

Four board members--Furutani, Barbara Boudreaux, Leticia Quezada and Jeff Horton--said they would support the decree as amended. Julie Korenstein was opposed, while Roberta Weintraub and Mark Slavkin said they needed more time to reach a decision.