District Finds Way to Spend Building Funds : Education: Renovation projects at 32 schools will help use $13.6 million in state money that otherwise would have been lost.

The Los Angeles Unified School District staff has come up with a way to use $13.6 million in state money earmarked for long-planned school renovation projects, rather than returning the funds because the district could not meet the spending deadline.

The financially troubled district also will try to recoup $18.6 million lost last year under the state’s use-it-or-lose-it requirement, although hopes of immediate success were not high, according to Bonnie James, administrator for new facilities.

James told the Board of Education’s building committee Thursday about a proposal to restructure his department’s workload to make sure the system uses the money.

The plan comes in response to criticism from some board members, particularly Westside representative Mark Slavkin, who has led the fight over the last several weeks to find a way to keep the state funds.

The renovation money was made available to school systems under a state school construction and modernization bond issue.

But in Los Angeles, the district emphasizes building classrooms over renovating existing facilities, and officials said there is not adequate staff to do both at once. Because the state money is earmarked for specific schools, it cannot be used for projects rated more pressing by the board.

“I find it outrageous that we would turn back money that we probably won’t get again,” Slavkin said Thursday. The board will lose credibility with the Legislature and parents if it does not spend the money allocated to it, especially in a year when it has already had to cut more than $200 million from the budget and must cut at least $50 million more.

But board member Rita Walters said she opposes to any plan that would delay building new classrooms just because district staff was needed to oversee renovations at schools that are not overcrowded.

Walters accused Slavkin of trying to change a “carefully crafted’ policy to benefit University and Venice high schools in the Westside area he represents. The schools are earmarked for $5.3 million in renovation funds.

Slavkin said after the meeting that projects at 32 schools could be salvaged without interfering with any new school construction projects. Slavkin said the proposal, which faces board action on Monday, is supported by Supt. Bill Anton.