LOS ANGELES -- Declaring Los Angeles' troubled school system must change or collapse, interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines unveiled detailed plans Monday to cut 834 administrative jobs and carve the district into 11 semi-independent pieces.

Each of the minidistricts would have its own superintendent and 13-member appointed advisory council of parents and community members. Each local district would make literacy its primary focus and each would have substantial authority over its own budget.Cortines said the changes would give parents and individual schools more power over education.

"Parents will have more access to where the action is," he said. "And also, we, as educators, will not be able to escape our clients."

Cortines said the changes, expected to save the district about $46 million a year, were necessary to eliminate the bureaucracy and political agendas he said have hampered teaching and learning.

"The adults in this district have failed the children in this district," Cortines said. "Our children are not dumb."

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Cortines will formally present the reorganization plan to the school board Tuesday. If board members approve, the changes would take effect July 1.

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