Loan to L.A. Colleges Is Vetoed by Governor

Citing “failure to exercise prudent fiscal management,” Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday deleted a $5-million loan to the hard-pressed Los Angeles Community College District from a community college bail-out bill.

The governor then signed the measure by Assemblyman William Leonard (R-Redlands) that will immediately lend a total of $4.8 million to three other districts in San Bernardino County, Oakland and Susanville.

However, the governor proposed a compromise that would make the loan available if the Los Angeles district agreed to allow its community college students to choose to attend schools in other districts.

“Granting students this choice can provide incentives for improved management,” Deukmejian said.

‘Needs and Interests’

The governor also said: “I believe that community college students should have the same opportunity as students attending the University of California and CSU (California State University) to choose the campus which most closely meets the students’ needs and interests.”

By linking the free-flow issue to the $5-million loan, however, the governor caught Los Angeles district officials off guard.

A dispute over the free flow of students began last year, after the officials determined that 25,000 Los Angeles students were crossing district boundaries to attend outlying colleges, while only 6,000 suburban students were coming back into Los Angeles community colleges. In an effort to stop the loss of students--and the state tax dollars that go with them--the Los Angeles district said it wanted to cancel agreements allowing free flow.

Consider Options

Norman Schneider, a Los Angeles district spokesman, said Tuesday that the district’s board may meet today to “consider the district’s options.” However, he said a discussion could be postponed until the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday.

District officials have said they are in a financial bind for a variety of reasons, in addition to the free-flow problem. The reasons include the district board’s approval of a 6% pay raise for teachers last year, higher than expected costs of recent board elections and worker compensation judgments against the district.

Schneider said the governor’s veto “doesn’t automatically mean disaster in the Los Angeles Community College District.” In fact, he pointed out, the district has until Oct. 1 to repay $5 million recently advanced to it by the county.

However, Trustee Monroe Richman predicted severe consequences if the district does not obtain the bail-out.

“We’d have to take some drastic cuts, and I don’t know where they’d come from,” Richman said. “We’re in a bare-bones budget right now.”

In his veto message, Deukmejian said he would back the loan proposal to help the district “if it is accompanied by strong auditing provisions and a permanent incentive for improved fiscal management.”

Deukmejian said, he has asked Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) to include the loan and auditing provisions in a bill that would allow Los Angeles community college students to freely attend schools in other districts.

Measure Opposed

Los Angeles district lobbyists have opposed the Beverly bill, but they lost in the Senate, where the bill passed last month.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles-area lawmakers, including Democratic Assemblyman Richard Alatorre, helped block the proposal in the Assembly Education Committee, where the bill is expected to be amended to include the loan and reconsidered next week.

Alatorre, of Los Angeles, said that the governor’s move to tie the loan to the issue of free flow amounted to “blackmail.”