Mayor loses on schools: unconstitutional *

Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs this afternoon threw out AB 1381. The law that Mayor Villaraigosa and friends pushed through the Legislature would have given the mayor power over three clusters of LAUSD schools, weakened the Board of Education and given much more authority to the superintendent of schools. Janavs sounded highly skeptical of the law's legality during last week's hearing. Villaraigosa meets the media at 5 pm. [* Update: He plans to appeal.] LAT story, text of judge's ruling on Daily News website.