Philanthropist and former Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner said he doesn’t see the new task force he is co-leading as a body that has any intention of usurping the new LA Unified School Board, or telling the superintendent what to do.

Beutner teamed with Laphonza Butler to create a diverse 11-member team for the LA Unified Advisory Task Force that includes leaders in marketing, business, ethnic groups, government, and more. Butler is president of Service Employees International Union Local 2015, which represents home health care workers and helped reform the state’s home health care services.

One of the items [Monica] García said she hoped the task force would look into is more funding for special education. Greuel said she hoped the next project may include how to help principals at schools on a local level with day-to-day support.

Some other questions and issues that have come up about the task force:

1. What is this task force supposed to do?

2. Who is on the task force?

3. Is this a rebuke or concern about either the new school board or King?

4. How will the public know about what is going on with the task force?

5. Is the task force going to replace the findings in the blue-ribbon Independent Financial Review Panel?

6. Is this undercutting anything the school board may ask the superintendent to do?

7. Does this have anything to do with charter schools?

Beutner predicted that the first report of the task force will be sometime in early fall, maybe as early as September, after King decides how to implement any of their suggestions. Then, they will discuss what to tackle next — there could be 10 to a dozen other issues facing the district. There is no deadline, and the task force will exist “until we run out of steam,” Beutner said.

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