(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
Big news out of Los Angeles- the school board has decided to emulate Philadelphia/New Orleans and outsource the management of 250 schools to charter operators, including several new multimillion dollar facilities. The LA Times reports:
“We’re here today to stand up for our children,” Villaraigosa told a cheering crowd while standing with about 25 students called up to appear with him. He stood under a banner proclaiming a “Parent Revolution,” which is the name of a parent-organizing campaign supported by leading charter school companies.
Outside the meeting room, waiting to get in, were both supporters and opponents of the resolution, written by Flores Aguilar. Labor unions, especially United Teachers Los Angeles, have opposed the measure, which Villaraigosa addressed in remarks that lasted about seven minutes.
“I am pro-union but I am pro-parent as well,” the mayor said. “If workers have rights, then parents ought to have rights too.” He added: “This school board understands that parents are going to have a voice.”
The Jurassic union thugs hate the proposal, but they got rolled. If you want to recall why, Drew Carey will give you a refresher:
My favorite part is when the union thug describes Steve Barr as “feeding at the public school trough” and “a vampire.” Paging Dr. Freud…we have a code red case of projection.
In any case, this is a BIG experiment in the nation’s second largest district. It will take skill and resolve to see it through. The reactionaries will be fighting it every step of the way. But for now, hats off to Mayor Villaraigosa, a former teacher union official, for showing the moral courage to take on the blob.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
I’m not ready to demand my Nobel Fortunetelling Prize but I am some gratified. Not thoroughly and completely gratified but then this is just a step in the right direction not arrival at the destination.
Still, other politicians can’t help but be aware of LAUSD’s decision and sooner or later some bright, young politician will realize that school districts don’t generate any educational benefit. All they do is suck up vast amounts of public money to no noticeable educational effect and that a great time to do away with the sort of wastefulness exemplified by the school district is when the economy’s in the toilet and change is in the air.
[…] to put the management of up to 250 public schools out for bid to non-profit organizations. School reformers rightly touted the move as an open admission that the government monopoly status quo is a failure, […]