School Board’s New Ways

On time. The first meeting of the reconfigured Los Angeles school board started punctually Tuesday and ended early, signaling a new self-discipline on a board notorious for rambling on past midnight. The new board president, Genethia Hayes, moved the meeting along so rapidly that she apologized for “running early” to speakers scheduled for specific times.

No apologies are needed for this new way of doing business. Running a tight meeting might seem like small potatoes, but the disarray of the previous board was a sign of its inability to put academics ahead of politics, action before rhetoric and good governance ahead of petty personality conflicts waged in public.

Mindful of past micromanaging, newcomer Caprice Young put forward a recommendation from an independent group of business, civic and community leaders, the Committee on Effective School Governance, to increase the spending authority of the superintendent and staff. The board voted to adopt the recommendation as a policy, allowing Ruben Zacarias and his administrators to authorize up to $25,000 for goods and services and $100,000 for professional services such as outside lawyers. Removing relatively small purchases from the board’s agenda will give members more time to concentrate on student achievement. A director of internal audit and special investigations hired in January is expected to safeguard financial transactions, large and small, in a school district known for losing track of public dollars.

The Belmont Learning Center, under construction on tainted land near downtown, an old oil field, has become synonymous with egregious waste. Pulling the plug is an increasingly popular option, but before the board decides the fate of the campus it will hold a public hearing this Tuesday. Board members later will receive district reports outlining the costs of walking away from the project, adapting it for another use, selling it or correcting the problem of methane gas escaping from the ground. A solution would allow the district to proceed with construction of an urgently needed high school in an overcrowded part of the district. Belmont became a disaster because the board made a political decision based on inaccurate information. The new board rightly is seeking a clear picture.

This week’s well-run meeting should start reassuring a public that has toyed with the ideas of breaking up the district and school vouchers. The board can regain public trust if it quickly follows up with decisive actions to fix the schools.