L.A. Unified Gets Mixed Marks in Audit

The Los Angeles Unified School District has made major strides in raising test scores and building schools over the last five years, but it is seriously hampered by internal turf wars, antiquated business systems and no clear plan to retain teachers, top administrators and others accountable for district goals, an independent audit found Monday.

The nation’s second-largest school district must overcome these “sizable barriers� and dozens of others if it hopes to continue its drive forward, according to the Council of the Great City Schools.

“This is not a broken school district,� said Michael Casserly, the council’s executive director. “It does have its challenges, to be sure. But to characterize the district as broken or in crisis would be incorrect.�

The Council of the Great City Schools serves as a national voice for 66 large urban school systems, including L.A. Unified. It conducted the review pro bono at the request of the Board of Education.

Among its findings were:

* L.A. Unified’s mammoth operations units often engage in “silo-like behavior,� meaning they are uncommunicative, rather than working to support the instructional side of the district.

* Redividing the system from 11 subdistricts to eight has created disparities, confusion, new inefficiencies and an uneven implementation of programs.

* The multibillion-dollar budget does not clearly reflect the district’s priorities or offer an understandable window into the use of its money, prompting the need for a “citizens’ budget� that would make the finances more transparent to the public.

District leaders acknowledged problems cited in the report, saying they are taking steps to address many of the deficiencies or are open to suggestions. The district, for example, would like to merge fragmented human resources and personnel operations -- a step that officials say would streamline procedures and enable schools to more quickly fill vacant positions.

“We’ve come a long way and we have a long way to go,� said Supt. Roy Romer. “We have a lot of work to do. Every single department needs to look at how it relates better to improving schools.�

Board President Marlene Canter called the review “a road map� for change and said the board would appoint an advisory committee to oversee reforms spawned by the report.

The 300-page study, which will be unveiled today by the school board, arrives at a time when Los Angeles city officials are seeking a greater say in district operations and governance.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called for a hand in overseeing the school district, saying its leadership and unions are standing in the way of reform.

City Controller Laura Chick, meanwhile, has offered to conduct her own audit of the system’s management and operations.

District leaders said such a review would duplicate work already completed by the Council of the Great City Schools as well as several other audits either underway or already completed.

Canter and Romer insisted that they were not trying to keep Chick at bay. But the controller, who will be briefed on the report Wednesday, did not back down.

“I don’t understand this spin, quite frankly,� Chick said. “This is a very broken institution with a lot of serious problems. They are worrying about protocol and ego and public relations. I plan to keep the fires burning.�

The council investigators delved into numerous aspects of L.A. Unified’s internal workings, including human resources, communications and business services. Their purpose was to find ways to increase the district’s effectiveness and efficiency.

The school system, the report found, is “marked by a lack of accountability at almost all levels, except for that of the superintendent.� The district has developed goals, such as raising test scores, but does not hold anyone responsible for meeting them, it said.

The problem applied to teachers, principals, regional leaders and top district leaders. The report called for placing senior central office staff, local district leaders and others on “performance contracts� tied to goals laid out in strategic plans.

The report also concluded that, contrary to public perception, the district’s central headquarters was a relatively lean operation, with fewer employees per pupil than other large urban school districts. Still, the review recommended redeploying as many central office staff as possible to the subdistricts, and clarifying the relationships between the regional offices and downtown headquarters.

For years, leaders of the teachers union have complained about a large bureaucracy that takes money and jobs away from the schools. They have said the district protects administrators and fails to adequately support classroom teachers.

United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy said he could not comment because he had not fully reviewed the report. But he said the union still expects the district to abide by a recent agreement to seek a separate independent audit of its operations.

“I want that outside agency to come in and look at the bloat in the bureaucracy,� Duffy said. “I certainly hope the district would not be afraid of it.�

Romer said he believed it would be “very tough� to win union support for some of the changes outlined in the report, including a recommendation to give principals more authority to hire and fire staff.

The reviewers applauded the school district for raising standardized test scores at a faster pace than many other urban school districts in California. And they said the district’s ambitious program to build more than 150 schools by 2012 would change L.A.’s education and social landscape for decades.

One board member, David Tokofsky, said the findings would be useful for Romer’s eventual successor. Romer’s contract expires in 2007.

“It helps clarify to anyone taking over the helm the challenges, successes and incoherencies that need to be looked at by any new CEO,� Tokofsky said.