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Perhaps taking a cue from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Controller Laura Chick has offered to oversee an audit of school district administrative operations. "As the independently elected Controller for the City of Los Angeles, I am accountable directly to the people. For that reason, I believe that my Office should oversee, from beginning to end, this audit of LAUSD management," she says in a press release. Whole thing follows. (* She has added a press availability for 2 pm to chat about it. 12:30 pm)
CHICK SEEKS TO AUDIT LAUSDController Offers To Oversee Audit of School District's Management
Los Angeles * Citing the need for an independent review, City Controller Laura Chick has offered to oversee a planned audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) administrative operations.
"As the independently elected Controller for the City of Los Angeles, I am accountable directly to the people. For that reason, I believe that my Office should oversee, from beginning to end, this audit of LAUSD management," wrote Chick in letters to LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer, LAUSD Board President Marlene Canter, and UTLA President A.J. Duffy.
In the recent agreement between the LAUSD and United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the District is directed to hire an independent consulting firm to investigate the District's administrative operations.
"Certainly this kind of scrutiny and subsequent transparency for the public is long overdue. However, once a consulting firm is hired by the Superintendent, the Board, and the UTLA, that firm ceases to be independent," wrote Chick.
"I know that the LAUSD is considering a new public relations campaign to boost its image. Nothing could be better public relations than the scrutiny and transparency that an independent audit brings, " said Chick.