New LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner isn't an educator. Here's what we know about how he thinks about schools.
Austin Beutner is a former investment banker with no history working as an educator. But the newly appointed superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District he does have a history with the school system – one that gives clues about how he might direct the education of the more than half a million students the district serves.
THE BACKSTORY
LAUSD board members voted Tuesday to offer a three-year contract to Beutner.
It's the biggest civic project yet for Beutner, who has spent much of the last decade deeply involved in the civic life of Los Angeles. He served as the city's deputy mayor from 2010 to 2011 and then spent just over a year as publisher and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times. In 2012, he founded a non-profit organization that provides children with free eye exams and glasses that has worked closely with LAUSD.
Beutner has been scrutinizing the district's finances and operations since 2017. That's when he began co-chairing a task force of civic leaders advising the school board on accelerating the pace of change.
In late 2016, Beutner had breakfast with board member Richard Vladovic. At the time, former superintendent Michelle King was struggling to gain the board's support for her Strategic Plan. The plan called for raising the district's graduation rate to 100 percent, increasing school choice for parents and reducing absenteeism. But board members were frustrated and were pushing King to get more specific.
Beutner saw a disconnect.
“Every kid graduating and perfect attendance … that’s interesting and those are laudatory goals," he later recalled telling Vladovic in an interview with KPCC. "But this is something different, in my view, than a plan.”
That breakfast led to a meeting with Superintendent King herself. And Beutner pitched an idea: how about a task force of civic leaders from outside LAUSD? The Strategic Plan had already outlined some goals; a task force could recommend some strategies to meet those goals. King agreed.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
Beutner recruited 12 other leaders from local foundations, philanthropies, non-profits, advocacy organizations and academia for the task force. They began meeting in May 2017.
By December, they had concluded that more than 80,000 students were chronically absent the previous school year, costing the district about $20 million in revenues. The group also released its first set of recommendations, outlining several pilot Continue reading: New LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner isn't an educator. Here's what we know about how he thinks about schools. | 89.3 KPCC:
