Former Colorado governor Roy Romer is stepping down as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, his son confirmed Thursday night.
Romer, 77, announced that he would be willing to leave before his contract expires in 2007, said his son, Chris Romer. He told L.A. district board members he would stay on until they found his replacement.
Roy Romer, who earns $250,000 a year, lately has been facing mounting criticism for the district’s poor academic record and high dropout rate. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has threatened to take over control of the district.
The ex-governor was unavailable for comment Thursday.
His son defended him, saying his father is stepping down after test scores for Los Angeles students rose to levels customarily seen only in suburbs. He helped push through a series of major bond elections, the son said.
“His legacy will be that every student in Los Angeles will be in a school with adequate facilities,” said the younger Romer, who is superintendent of two charter schools in the Denver metro area. “He absolutely transformed the school district.”
He said his father was famous for working 15-hour days and holding 6 a.m. Saturday meetings.
Romer was first approached about the job as superintendent while in Los Angeles in the summer of 2000 while he was helping to organize the Democratic National Convention. At the time he said it was a job he wanted to tackle because it was important and tough.
Although he had his ankle fused and alternately moves in a wheelchair or walks with a cane, Roy Romer doesn’t have retirement on his mind, his son said.
“He’s having a lot of fun. We figure he’s got three more careers left in him. His next is likely as a bush pilot,” Chris Romer joked. Besides being Colorado’s governor for three terms until 1999, Roy Romer served in the Colorado House and Senate, was the state treasurer and became chairman of the Democratic National Committee before moving to a career in education.
Born and raised on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, Romer also owned several John Deere dealerships across the country and Geneva Basin ski area near Guanella Pass and ran an airplane company.
The Los Angeles Daily News contributed to this story.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
