Compton Schools to Request State Loan : Education: District’s debts will force it to seek up to $16 million to stay open through the fall.

Compton school officials have disclosed that debts are greater than previously announced, forcing the district to seek a $12-million to $16-million state loan to keep schools open through the fall.

By law, the loan would give the state the authority to take over the financially and academically struggling school district of 28,000 students.

Previous estimates put the total budget shortfall at $4.9 million.

“It’s time to pay the piper,” Acting Supt. Harold Cebrun said. “I don’t see any alternative to a loan.” Cebrun will recommend at tonight’s board meeting that the school board request a loan.

The Compton Unified School District needs an immediate $5.5 million just to pay employees in May and June. The rest of the loan is needed to pay other debts and create a legally required cash reserve.

Officials have only partly explained how the district fell on hard times so quickly. Less than a year ago, then-Supt. J. L. Handy boasted that the district was $4.1 million in the black.

In fact, the district was already about $900,000 in debt by July, 1992, and could have been declared insolvent even then, said Cebrun, who became acting superintendent in December after the school board dismissed Handy for alleged mismanagement. Other problems included about $1 million owed for back taxes and tax penalties and a recently discovered debt of $3 million to the county education office for services provided to disabled children. A lower-than-expected enrollment exacerbated financial difficulties.

In September, the school board voted to cut $4.9 million in programs, personnel and services, but much of the savings failed to materialize. Some layoffs were delayed; others had to be rescinded because the district did not follow legal guidelines in carrying them out.

Assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr. (D-Paramount) said he has volunteered to sponsor legislation that would authorize the loan. He also sharply criticized district leadership.

“I was flabbergasted by this new revelation,” Murray said Monday during a break from an Assembly committee meeting. “I would characterize it as sheer incompetence. It is just another indication that the district alone--without outside help and direction--cannot manage its schools.”

Murray, who represents parts of Compton, has already introduced legislation that would allow for a state takeover of the Compton school system on the grounds that it is failing academically. Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed similar legislation last year, but said he would reconsider if district test scores, typically the lowest in the state, do not improve.