Big Win for Villaraigosa Pending at LAUSD; All Eyes on Martinez Vote

UPDATE: LA Times: The Los Angeles Board of Education voted today to open up 250 schools, including 50 new multimillion-dollar campuses, to outside charter operators and others. The move came after a nearly four-hour debate on a 6-1 vote, with board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte opposing.

You read it hear first at Mayor Sam's Blog where we report the news before it happens.

A potential major win for Mayor Villaraigosa in his efforts to wield influence over the Los Angeles Unified School District and present his vision of school reform is currently in the works as the LAUSD school board is about to vote to pass the controversial School Choice Resolution. While this is a significant victory for the Mayor, it's a devastating setback to the UTLA Teachers Union. UTLA President AJ Duffy has called the plan "the privatization of public education."

The plan will allow private operators to take over about a third of all LAUSD schools. Key to it's feature is a process that allows parents to decide how their campus would be run and who will operate the school including allow private operators to manage the school. Villaraigosa and his supporters feel offering this choice will make schools more competitive and improve performance.

While our sources tell us that the plan will pass later Tuesday afternoon with a solid majority, insiders are saying all eyes are on recently elected board member Nury Martinez. While the plan is popular with parents in her district Martinez is receiving threats from some quarters that UTLA would seek to start a recall attempt against her. As well Martinez is seen to be considering pulling a Tamar Galatzan in two years to run for the 7th District Council seat to be vacated by the termed out Richard Alarcon so certainly she is weighing that in this first major decision of her term.