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In a new KPCC radio interview that aired earlier today, Mayor Villaraigosa surprised nobody touting his record on education — claiming to have doubled the number of schools at 800 and above in the API (academic performance index), for example — and taking aim at the notion that LAUSD should have an independent elected School Board:

“We had a 14 percent turnout for this last school board election, and for the last mayor’s race… The only person who has the wherewithal, if you will, to really push through these changes is a mayor.”

Mayor Villaraigosa famously tried and failed to win control of the School Board, won only mixed results from the just-completed 2013 primaries, and this week saw the Board vote to end the Presidency of Monica Garcia, one of his chief allies.

Previous posts: Defiant Mayor Promises Continued Involvement; Differing Views of Villaraigosa Education Record; Voter Turnout Far Below Expectations,