Rumors of Grade, Fiscal Irregularities Lead to Audit : Inglewood: State Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. says he asked for the inquiry in order to provide information to board members and to ‘drain the swamp.’

A team of state auditors is conducting a review of management and budget procedures in the Inglewood Unified School District at the request of Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr., officials said this week.

Tucker, an Inglewood Democrat, said he requested the audit by the state Office of the Auditor General last year because of rumors he heard about students allegedly graduating without proper credits, contracts being awarded without bidding and other irregularities. He stressed, however, that he has no facts to support the allegations but wanted to provide information to the relatively new board members and superintendent and “drain the swamp.”

Audit Manager Philip Jelicich said he is heading the team looking into management and budgetary procedures, attendance records, contract awards and student transcripts.

Four auditors spent last week pouring over district records and conducting initial interviews. They will return to the district next month and expect to issue a full report by early summer, Jelicich said.

District spokesman Maurice Wiley said school officials were surprised when state auditors contacted the district last month. “We were not sure how it came about,” he said.

One area that has been investigated previously in Inglewood is student transcripts.

State Department of Education auditors last year reported serious record-keeping problems that apparently allowed some students to graduate even though their transcripts showed they had not completed required course work. The report also found numerous discrepancies between grades on teacher logs and those on transcripts.

The school district reviewed its policies at that time but did not announce any specific changes.

Tucker cautioned against overreacting to the current audit.

“Most people look at an audit as, ‘Oh my God, who are you trying to get,’ ” he said. “That’s not the case here. People should look at this as a positive step, a tool they can use to build on the future.”

Earlier in the week, Inglewood school officials downplayed a financial status report issued by the state in which the district reported financial difficulties.

Inglewood was one of only four districts countywide and 21 across California to indicate to the state in late 1990 that it may have difficulty meeting financial obligations in the fiscal year that ends June 30.

District officials, however, say that Inglewood’s strained finances are not as severe as they may appear. Inglewood, unlike other districts in the South Bay, has not yet had to resort to handing out layoff notices or eliminating programs, district officials noted.

“I think our budget looks like every other school district in the state of California--bleak,” said board Vice President Joseph Rouzan. “We are going to have a difficult time meeting our financial obligations if we maintain everyone in their current capacity, but our goal is not to cut positions.”

In the recent financial status reports to the state, only two school districts reported that they are “unlikely” to meet their financial obligations by the end of the fiscal year. Inglewood fell into a less-severe grouping of 21 other districts that reported they may face difficulty meeting their obligations.

District officials said putting Inglewood on the state “qualified list” was a fiscally prudent step to signal that significantly less revenue from the state could put the district’s budget in the red.

“We’re just letting the state know that things would get worse if cuts are made” in sources of school funds, said John Scharf, the Inglewood district’s fiscal officer. “We’re saying that our financial health is precarious if certain things happen.”

Scharf said the district is on shaky financial ground because of its relatively low reserve of unrestricted funds. The reserve is currently at $300,000 out of a total unrestricted fund budget of about $48 million, he said. The recommended reserve is 3% of the budget, or $1.4 million in Inglewood’s case.

A joint statement issued by board President Lois Hill-Hale and Supt. George J. McKenna this week, however, said the district is not facing insolvency.

District officials said the following factors might give Inglewood a negative balance:

* If state lottery revenues are substantially below the $120 per student that the district has estimated in its budget.

* If there is a reduction in the district’s estimated average daily attendance.

* If a substantial salary increase emerges from ongoing negotiations for the current year with teachers and other district employees.

Other districts serving the South Bay that did not report financial distress to the state are nonetheless feeling a budget pinch.

Trustees in the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District, for instance, have voted to convert two of three high school campuses into intermediate schools, to close two existing intermediates and to cut personnel districtwide.

Torrance trustees have authorized drastic cuts that will abolish 70 jobs, lay off dozens of employees and eliminate vocal music instruction and two-thirds of the nursing staff. Los Angeles Unified School District, which includes schools in Gardena, Wilmington and San Pedro, also has been making drastic budget cuts to stay in the black.