NPR sure hates the mayor of Los Angeles. They should read this:

[1932]

I've heard NPR report at least twice on Villaraigosa's desire for the city to take control of the local school district. They totally editorialize and characterize it as a power play. They should read this book when it comes out:

Wong, Shen, Anagnostopouls and Rutledge. How Mayors Improve School Performance. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

Your Kids Will Learn Better
Students in school districts run by mayors do better academically, according to a new study by researchers at Brown and Harvard. "We believe that mayoral control actually can enhance the overall district well-being, not only in financial terms, but also in terms of the focus on accountability," said co-author Kenneth Wong, Annenberg Professor in Education Policy.

NPR's coverage of this story is such blatant anti-Democratic spin. NPR is trying really hard to get a Republican mayor of LA and to prevent Villaraigosa from having a political future.

Here are some links to NPR's spin:

Mayor Attempts to Take Over Los Angeles Schools
by Claudio Sanchez
Morning Edition, April 18, 2006 · Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is promoting a controversial fix for the city's struggling public school system. He wants to put the bureaucracy under his control. Villaraigosa says this will bring more accountability to Los Angeles public schools. But his opponents call it a power grab.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5348272

Layoffs May Follow City Takeover of L.A. Schools {Not too subtle, eh?}
by Renée Montagne and Claudio Sanchez
Morning Edition, April 18, 2006 · The details of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's takeover plans for the Los Angeles Unified School District have only been made public through a draft plan that was leaked to a newspaper. The draft plan includes large layoffs of middle management in the system.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5348275

Analysis
When States -- and Mayors -- Take Over Schools
by Steve Drummond
{This story tries hard to make something good sound bad and, after conflating a lot of causes and effects and burying successes mayors have had (which the artcile begrudgingly recognizes) it concludes with the following:}
But often the curve flattens out after a few years. And in high schools, which present perhaps the toughest challenge in urban education today, real success has proved much more elusive.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5347765

[marmar]

1. Shame on NPR...

I'm a very big fan of Mayor Villagraigosa. He's going to be a star in the Democratic Party.

[1932]

2. kick for the added links