Compton Schools Await Bill : Education: Emergency bailout measure is ready for governor’s signature. In return, state will appoint administrator to handle finances and improve services.

Legislation authorizing a $10.5-million emergency loan to bail out the cash-strapped Compton Unified School District awaited Gov. Pete Wilson’s signature late Wednesday.

In exchange for the money needed to keep campuses open, the Compton school board will relinquish governing authority to an administrator appointed by the acting state schools superintendent.

The bill gives the state a historically broad mandate to improve the financially and academically struggling school system.

Unlike previous state bailouts for ailing school districts, this one directs Compton administrators to do more than pay bills, cut costs and improve accounting. The state administrator also must submit a progress report by January, 1994, on efforts to offer better services to Latino students and improve the district’s often-criticized academic programs.

News of the loan was bittersweet for Compton school officials. Most wanted the loan, but they regretted the need for it and rued losing control over district affairs.

“It’s not something we want to go through, but we had very limited options,” school board President Kelvin Filer said. “We didn’t want to declare bankruptcy. We did not want to shut down the school system.

“The loan is a necessary evil because we want to keep the school district functioning, and we want to lessen any looming cuts that might affect the classroom.”

Filer was among many district officials who fought last fall to avoid an earlier attempted state takeover. They celebrated victory Sept. 30 when Wilson vetoed a bill that would have made Compton Unified the first California school system ever taken over for academic failings.

But nine months later, control of the district passed to the state for another reason: the district’s ongoing financial crisis.

According to independent auditors, the district’s red ink totals about $17.8 million. Legislators were unwilling to pay the full deficit and settled on $10.5 million as a loan the district could live with.

The rest of the shortfall will have to be met by cutting staff and programs and negotiating long-term debt payments, officials said.

District administrators said they are prepared to make do with what they get. On Tuesday, the school board voted to eliminate more than 110 non-teaching jobs to cut costs by more than $1 million.

“If the loan is not enough, we are going to propose more cuts to the school board,” district controller Theresa Morrison-Givens said.

Assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr. (D-Paramount) wrote the bailout legislation. He also sponsored last fall’s takeover bill. Murray said that the district’s financial problems confirm his belief that outside help is needed to improve Compton schools, where students’ test scores are among the lowest in the state.

The district has eight years to pay back the state loan, and eight years is also the maximum term of the state administrator. The administrator can return control of the district to local officials after two years if the school system is financially sound.

Besides restoring financial health, the legislation specifically directs the administrator to improve services to students who speak limited English, to hire more Latinos and to improve relations between district employees and Latino parents.

State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) asked for these amendments. Torres was concerned over allegations of racial tensions and discriminatory hiring practices, Torres aide Patricia Shin said.

More than half of the district’s 29,000 students are Latinos, but only 6% of teachers are, according to the county education office.

Shin also noted that a recent county education office study concluded that the district has inadequate services for students who speak limited English.

Filer said he welcomed the outside look in this area.

“Once the administrator comes in, he will see that every effort is being made to comply with our affirmative action objectives, and that we try to treat all students and employees alike,” Filer said.

Board member Amen Rahh opposes the state loan. He said the district has been singled out for harsh, discriminatory treatment because it lacks political clout and employs and serves mostly African-Americans and Latinos.

Other district officials agreed that the financial problems had been exaggerated, but they insisted that the loan was needed. “We were living on borrowed time,” Morrison-Givens said.