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The squabbling over education in the LA mayor’s race took a much-needed turn towards the substantive earlier today with a speech from candidate Wendy Greuel laying out some of her priorities to reform Los Angeles schools.

In remarks delivered at  Granada Hills Charter High School, Greuel called for an audit of LAUSD “to slash non-school site administrative expenses” and a student’s bill of rights including access to technology, mental health counselors, arts and a “quality teacher in every classroom.”

“The truth is we can’t have a world-class city without a world-class education system,” said Greuel, who herself attended LAUSD public schools, has a son that attends an affiliated charter school.

In addition, Greuel reiterated her support for the parent trigger law and endorsed LAUSD’s new teacher evaluation system, which makes student test scores as much as 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.

Eric Garcetti’s spokesman Jeff Millman emailed LA School Report this response to Greuel’s speech: “Eric has been talking about these items for many months on the campaign trail and has also frequently discussed ideas for improving STEM education, improving career training for LA students, using city funds to build school/city joint-use facilities to make our schools the center of our communities, and being the strongest advocate for LA’s students in Sacramento to fight for more funding for LAUSD schools.”

You can download the full text of the Greuel speech here. The two candidates debate tonight at 7 PM. It will be broadcast on ABC Channel 7. We’ll be live-tweeting it!

Previous posts: Greuel to Garcetti: Let’s Debate Education Today, Garcetti Calls for Education Debate; Mayor Wants More Education from Greuel & Garcetti; Board Members Split on Mayoral Endorsements; Greuel Speech Includes Strong School Reform Language