Investing in L.A.’s Education

When businessman-philantropist Walter H. Annenberg announced last December that he would donate half a billion dollars to help make education reform a reality, it was an exciting moment for all of those who care about public school education. The donation is the largest ever for education.

Now comes even more reason for excitement: Los Angeles education leaders are joining hands to make sure that this city benefits from Annenberg’s largess.

It shouldn’t be news that Los Angeles leaders have sat down and planned carefully how to capture part of the $500 million that Annenberg offers. However, the fragmented nature of government here, along with a woeful lack of communication among the many education advocates--school administrators, teachers, business leaders and politicians--has made it unusual for all the interested parties to work together. That’s changing, and not a moment too soon. Los Angeles schools can wait no longer.

It’s heartening to know, as Times staff writer Jean Merl reported Tuesday, that USC President Steven B. Sample, taking the initiative, recently called together various education leaders to deliver an important message: Annenberg is considering giving Los Angeles some of the funds but wants to know how education reform leaders would use the gift. Instead of bickering, instead of refusing to talk to all the other concerned parties, everyone got to work. A draft proposal already has been sent, and if the ideas attract Annenberg and his advisers, millions of dollars could come into Los Angeles to nurture and disseminate education reform efforts. The potential is significant.

“We are conceiving this as a way to turbocharge the reform efforts already underway in the Los Angeles area,” said Theodore Mitchell, dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and a member of LEARN (Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now).

LEARN, a coalition of educators, parents and civic leaders, already has done much to demonstrate Los Angeles’ appetite for having parents, teachers and administrators work together to improve student achievement.

The meeting Sample called may not have seemed to be L.A. history in the making, but it just may have been.