Lanterna Rally

Author: Council of the Great City Schools, Washington, DC.

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13:

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest public school system in the United States, and one of the largest organizations of any kind in the country. As with urban school systems across the country, the Los Angeles school district is under enormous pressure to improve. The district is under public scrutiny and is the subject of perennial debate about whether it should be broken up, taken over, or otherwise disbanded. In October 2004, the district asked the Council of the Great City Schools to: (1) Provide high-level review of the school district's overall organizational and administrative structure and propose ways to improve it, and assess how well the district's instructional and business operations were integrated and focused on the system's main priorities; (2) Review the district's financial operations, business services, human resources, and other services, and make recommendations to increase their effectiveness and efficiency; and (3) Review and propose ways to strengthen the district's implementation of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. To conduct its work, the Strategic Support Teams made site visits to the district, reviewed documents and data, interviewed staff and others, and observed operating procedures. The Council and its teams then assembled their findings and designed a set of strategic proposals to assist the district in its efforts to improve its management, operations, effectiveness, and efficiency. Findings and recommendations are organized around six major themes: (1) Organization; (2) Accountability; (3) Business Services; (4) Financial Management; (5) Human Resources; and (6) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The first two chapters of this report (Organization and Accountability) are devoted to major organizational issues and are designed to provide the superintendent with specific recommendations for improving the management and organizational effectiveness of the school district. The last four chapters are directed at managers with line responsibilities for the district's business services, financial operations, human resources, and Enterprise Resource Planning. Overall, Council proposals suggest that a greater emphasis is needed on integrating functions than reorganizing them. (Contains 99 footnotes and 73 figures. Appended are: (1) Strategic Support Team Bios; (2) Documents Reviewed; (3) Individuals Interviewed; (4) Working Agendas; (5) Staffing Ratios in the Great City Schools; (6) Survey of Urban School Expenditures; (7) Business Services Survey and Respondents; (8) Financial Management Survey and Respondents; (9) Human Resource Management Survey and Respondents; (10) Curriculum-based Budgeting; (11) About the Council; and (12) History of Council Reviews. ).