Auditors Begin Investigating L.A. District : Education: A team is trying to determine if the school system is run efficiently. This is first time officials have approved an independent review.

A team of analysts from Arthur Andersen & Co. began its investigation of the Los Angeles Unified School District on Monday to determine whether the mammoth school system is top-heavy and poorly managed.

The management audit--which will take two months and cost the district $500,000--will examine virtually every department and identify ways the district can reorganize to cut costs and improve efficiency. This is the first time district officials have sanctioned an independent review of the administration of the entire school system.

“We’re going to look at how people in the district’s management are spending their time and (the district’s) money,” said Jonathan Copley, the Arthur Andersen executive who will supervise the study.

“The goal, for once and for all, is to settle the issue” of whether the school system is being run effectively, he said.

For years, the district has been saddled with the image of a bloated bureaucracy that sucks up much of the money that should go to classrooms. A Times poll in January found that 68% of respondents felt that waste and mismanagement were bigger problems for the school system than a lack of money.

The audit was proposed by school board member Mark Slavkin and approved by the board in the fall. United Teachers-Los Angeles made the audit an issue during its contract battles with the district, demanding a role in the audit.

“This management audit is extremely important to UTLA with regard to getting this district re-prioritized and restructured,” said union spokeswoman Catherine Carey. Many teachers said they voted for the contract because of a provision allowing the union to participate in the audit. “It should answer a very basic question that we’ve been asking for years and years and years,” she added.

Carey said UTLA will hire its own management consultant to review the audit process and findings “to make sure everything is done thoroughly and nothing is glossed over.”

That consultant will serve on a process oversight committee with representatives from each of the district’s eight bargaining units. The committee will meet twice a month with the audit team to evaluate the information being developed and offer advice on what concerns should be addressed, Copley said.

“We are being very, very open,” Copley said. “The credibility will be shot if we don’t do it right. We don’t want to get through this process and find somebody out there throwing a rock at us because they weren’t involved.”

Copley said the audit process will have two basic components:

Consultants will conduct interviews with hundreds of the school system’s “customers”--including parents, teachers, students, principals and other employees--to determine what district services they find most important.

At the same time, analysts will review the operation of several departments--including personnel, accounting and budget services, transportation, purchasing, food services, police and the region offices--and evaluate the jobs performed by the more than 10,000 people they employ.

“We expect to find money being spent on services no longer needed, and services needed but not being delivered,” Copley said.

The audit results are scheduled to be delivered to the school board in May, along with an estimate of the cost of implementing the firm’s suggestions. “This is not necessarily a cost-cutting” proposal, though it is intended to save the district money in the long run, Copley said.