Rebuilding Greatness
Last week, my beloved Los Angeles Lakers hired a new head coach. Frank Vogel may turn out to be the perfect fit for this squad that I’ve rooted for since before I was born. Or he may not. Only time will tell.
Vogel is the seventh head coach the Lakers have had during the past ten years. It’s not a coincidence that the team hasn’t made the playoffs for six consecutive years.
The new Lakers hire got me thinking about another institution that we in Los Angeles need to be great — and with far more importance and with greater societal implications at stake if we collectively fail.
That institution is the Los Angeles Unified School District.
My friend and former boss at the Los Angeles Times, Austin Beutner, is the seventh superintendent the district has had during that same ten-year span I mentioned above. One superintendent served twice, another tragically developed a fatal illness, and one was interim only.
In school and in sports, as with so many other institutions and settings, stability and consistency of leadership matters. Setting a goal and strategy and allowing them time to work matters. If you swap out your CEO equivalent every two years the way you do school principals or district superintendents, then you are not likely to achieve that stability and consistency, nor the positive results that matter most. So, it’s no surprise we are not seeing sustained progress and improvement in our K-12 public school system.
Yesterday, there was a school board election. I congratulate each of the candidates for throwing their hats in the ring for public service. Big congratulations go to election winner Jackie Goldberg. I was a City Council staffer when Jackie was on Council and I know her to be a no-nonsense and compassionate policymaker. And throughout her career on City Council, the school board, California State Assembly and as the founder of an afterschool program, she has never wavered in her focus on education and making sure that there is equity and opportunity for kids in underserved communities. She puts kids first and is willing to work with others who share this same focus. That sort of commitment is vital and necessary, particularly in an era where the gap between the haves and the have-nots is so wide and getting wider every day.
With the teachers’ strike resolved earlier this year, and school board elections complete, this should be the moment to take advantage of stability, build on the progress made, and continue working together. Let’s put aside what we know divides us, and let’s focus on what binds us together. And that is putting kids first and getting the district’s financial house in order.
I see the common ground that is building between the superintendent, teachers’ union and school board, and the opportunity for collaboration and problem solving. I’m encouraged by the coalition formed in support of Measure EE (save for the business community, which I’m still scratching my head about). They are, to my eyes and ears, fighting the same good fight. They all agree teachers absolutely should be paid more. Class size must be smaller. There should be librarians in every school. Our kids should have access to qualified counselors with trauma-informed training and a rainbow of enrichment programs that keep our kids engaged and connected to school.
But back to my point about district stability; the financial crisis LAUSD is facing is real and will require a focused strategy and consistent leadership to fix the problems. This is the only way we will be able to support our kids and teachers in a manner they deserve. I serve on an LAUSD advisory panel — which I actively participated in under Superintendent Michelle King (may she rest in peace). The report we authored, Hard Choices, clearly lays out the facts and highlights the financial obstacles and hazards the school district faces.
A few months ago, the school board selected a leader with unquestionable financial expertise and business acumen, which we desperately need if we are to get LAUSD’s finances stabilized. I know, Austin Beutner is not an educator and he isn’t everyone’s flavor. But here’s what you need to know about Austin. He didn’t grow up wealthy. His dad was an immigrant who arrived in the US with nothing and built a life and a family on a factory workers salary. His mom was a schoolteacher. Austin is a product of public schools and worked his way through college. In 1994, he and his wife founded the Beutner Family Foundation with a focus on education for economically disadvantaged communities. He is committed to ensuring that every child has access to a quality public education and the opportunities an education provides. Just like he had. And, like Jackie, he came out of retirement to work hard and in partnership with others to make things better. He’s a pragmatist and a collaborator, and exactly what a school district starved for 40+ years by a 1978 tax law overreaction needs. (Paging Prop. 13.)
And he’s making progress. Some would say the most meaningful progress in the last decade. Austin and his team have reduced bureaucracy in the central office to the tune of $50 million in annual savings and they’ve realized an additional $50 million in health care saving by finding and instituting cost-effective benefits to out-of-state retirees. He did this with the support of and in partnership with the unions. And he worked with County Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Kathryn Barger to bring in new and much-needed resources to fund counseling programs helping our youngest students. These are small steps but exactly the type of improvements and collaborations we need to continue and expand upon.
Look, I want my Lakers to get back to the playoffs and win another championship. And I’m putting all my energy and support around Coach Vogel and his team. I’m going to give him an opportunity to perform and return our Laker Nation to greatness. But more importantly and with much higher stakes, I desperately want our school district to be great. We all need LAUSD to succeed. But achieving greatness requires stable and consistent collaboration among all stakeholders, including the school board, superintendent and teachers’ union (and yes, you too business and civic community). The nearly 700,000 students, their families, teachers and administrators deserve it. To use a corny sports analogy, teamwork makes the dream work. So, let’s continue to work together and do the unquestionable best we can for our kids and return our district to greatness. They are waiting.
