FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, Mayor Hahn sent a letter to the Small Schools Alliance, pledging his support to continue bringing class sizes down and to give more local control to our public schools.

In addition, Mayor Hahn called on the Small Schools Alliance to support his goal of expanding our nationally-recognized L.A.'s BEST program to every elementary school in the city which doesn't already have a quality after-school program.

The Small Schools Alliance formed earlier this year to build support for our public education system and to advocate for smaller classes, increased parental involvement and more localized control in our schools.

Over the past four years, Mayor Hahn has worked hard to accomplish many of these same objectives. He looks forward to joining with the Small Schools Alliance to continue these efforts in the coming years.

A copy of the letter is below.

February 23, 2005

Mr. Frank Baxter
The Small Schools Alliance
411 S. Main St., Suite 606
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Dear Frank:

I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today.  As I mentioned previously, I strongly support and admire the goals the Small Schools Alliance is working toward within our public education system.

I am totally comfortable with agreeing to your pledge that we work to create smaller campuses of 500 students or less in all our public schools.  This approach, which would include secondary academies, is a realistic and pragmatic way to create smaller campuses in a large, urban school district.

Again, I commend your efforts to bring everyone in the Los Angeles community together to advance the cause of real education reform in our schools.  I look forward to working with you to make sure every child in L.A. has access to a high-quality education and a safe learning environment.

Very Truly Yours,

Jim Hahn

February 17, 2005

Mr. Steve Barr
The Small Schools Alliance
411 S. Main St., Suite 606
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Dear Steve,

I commend your efforts in forming The Small Schools Alliance earlier this year to build support for our public education system in Los Angeles. As you have noted, every child in L.A. deserves an exceptional public education which prepares them for higher education and for the demands of the 21st century economy.

As a parent with two children in our public schools, I agree with the principles of your "Six Tenets of High Performing Schools." While I believe it's impractical for every school to have fewer than 500 students, I have worked hard as mayor to reduce class sizes and direct more money to local communities to spend on their schools.

We created an office to work with the LAUSD to build new schools to reduce overcrowding and are assisting in developing new charter schools. We created the One Book-One City program to highlight literacy and involve communities in reading. I also support getting parents involved in their children's education, so long as we give them real input into how our schools are functioning.

While the state cuts school funding to solve its budget mess, we are investing more in our teachers. We worked with the California Housing Finance Agency and the Southern California Home Financing Authority to provide up to $80,000 in no-interest deferred loans to help teachers and other middle-class homebuyers purchase a home, collectively investing over $300 million in this fund.

I strongly support keeping schools open until 6 pm to provide a safe and invigorating environment for our students to go after class. But it's not enough to just keep the schools open late. We need the infrastructure to ensure those hours are as productive for our kids as the hours they spend in the classroom. As mayor, I've expanded our nationally-recognized L.A.'s Best program to serve over 20,000 students at more than 120 elementary schools across the city. In my next term, I'm pledging that we will expand L.A.'s Best to every elementary school in Los Angeles. I ask that you join me in making that commitment.

With Warm Regards,

James K. Hahn
Mayor of Los Angeles

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