The graduation rate for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District is down to less than 41 percent, it was reported recently. That’s the second worst in the country.
Now if you were on the LAUSD board, you’d probably figure there was hard work to do. You might even be humbled by a number like that.
Silly you.
The board members of the LAUSD think they’re doing a fabulous job. They must. They seem to have enough time – not to mention the moral supremacy of unapologetic know-it-alls – to stop and preach how a few small local businesses should operate.
How else can you explain the board’s decision a couple of weeks ago to vote on a resolution requiring any carwash company that wants to wash school district cars to sign an agreement saying they are committed to allowing their workers to organize a union?
The school board was so pleased by this resolution, which passed on a 5-1 vote, that it put out a two-page press release. It trumpeted the fact that the agreement was endorsed by the United Steelworkers union and the AFL-CIO. It said it wanted to be sure that businesses treat their employees “professionally and with dignity.” The school board president, Monica Garcia, who introduced the measure, was quoted as saying that she was proud. “As a public institution, it is LAUSD’s responsibility to ensure that our scarce public tax dollars support only legal business practices.”
Now you may think that, as a public institution, it is LAUSD’s responsibility to use its scare tax dollars to educate children, maybe so they wouldn’t have to work in a carwash, but apparently you’d be wrong.
You also may think its LAUSD’s responsibility to wisely use taxpayers’ money by giving their business to the lowest and best bidder, and let the private sector worry about running their businesses, but sadly, you’d be wrong about that, too.
The school board believes its responsibility is to be an unrepentant toady for unions. And to take time out to wag its finger at businesses and tell them how to operate. Apparently, Garcia thinks it’s not a “legal business practice” for a carwash to be a nonunion shop. The board members apparently think it’s not possible for a nonunion shop to treat their employees professionally and with dignity.
If you missed this carwash vote, you’re not alone. There wasn’t a lot of news coverage. There was even less about the lone dissenter, Tamar Galatzan. Luckily, her husband is involved in an Internet radio show called “Off the Presses.” She managed to get her story told on that venue.
She pointed out that the district has a huge budget deficit, maybe $700 million (although that number varies widely, depending on the source), and “I don’t think it’s the place for the school district” to take its eye off dealing with that enormous problem so it can hand a bouquet to unions.
She said when the resolution was brought up, the school board had been working on budget issues, hearing from those about to be laid off, “real things that are going to impact the instruction at our schools. And then we follow that up with this (carwash resolution).”
Think about the immense challenges this school district faces. Budget problems, grand juries, layoffs – and a dismal, second-worst-in-the-country 41 percent graduation rate.
Hey, here’s a resolution: Whereas the school board has made a true mess of things, and whereas the tax money is truly scarce, and whereas the graduation rate is a profound embarrassment, now, therefore, be it resolved that the school board will not presume to tell anyone how to run their business. At least until the school board has made the Los Angeles Unified School District something this community can be proud of.
Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
