School District to Drop Disney Project Suit : Agreement: Tentative deal calls for park to provide aid for arts programs and support for new Anaheim City schools. It is the final district to go along.

The Walt Disney Co.’s massive theme park expansion crossed a major legal hurdle Saturday, when the Anaheim City School District tentatively agreed to drop its lawsuit against the project in exchange for arts programs and support for new schools.

School officials refused to disclose the terms of the secret agreement reached after a special meeting behind closed doors. It, however, is expected to include Disney’s financial assistance in the arts and possible political backing from Disney and the city for a school construction bond measure.

“We’re glad, and we think this will be a good situation for both the city and for our school district,” board President Celia Dougherty said after the meeting.

Dougherty and other school officials said details of the agreement will be announced after the Anaheim City Council approves the pact and the school board is ready to take a formal vote.

But informal acceptance of the settlement makes the elementary school district the seventh and final district to fall in line behind the Disney project after initially raising strong objections that the expansion would add hundreds of new students to already overcrowded classrooms.

Still pending, however, are two lawsuits against the project filed on behalf of various property and hotel owners.

The expansion, approved by the Anaheim City Council in June, includes a theme park called Westcot, an amphitheater, 5,600 new hotel rooms, shops and the two largest parking structures in the country.

On hearing the school board’s decision, Councilman Irv Pickler said: “Good for them. . . . Whatever we can do to help the school district, we will do. It’s a joint cooperation, as far as I am concerned.”

Disney officials were unavailable for comment Saturday.

During earlier negotiations, city and Disney representatives rejected the school district’s attempts to get money for school facilities.

But Pickler said the city offered to help the district locate and acquire future school sites. While he was not sure what the final agreement included, he added that the city also would help speed payment of Disney’s development fees totaling $1.1 million.

Attempting to alleviate the concerns of school districts with schools in Anaheim, Disney announced last week it would hire an education coordinator to help develop programs in the arts and sciences that might not be possible without the park’s help.

In the case of the Anaheim City School District, which discontinued its arts programs due to financial hardship, the move was welcomed.

“The arts is something we have not been able to do financially for many years and we believe it belongs in the elementary schools,” Supt. Meliton Lopez said before Saturday’s board meeting. “But we believe we have unique needs that go beyond the arts. . . . I think we want recognition on the part of the city and Disney that there are special concerns to us.”

The school district’s 21 campuses are located in Anaheim’s inner city and are among the most diverse, with 29 languages and cultures among its students. About 45% of its 17,000 students participate in the free or reduced-price school lunch program.

School officials project that by 2010, when the Disney project is scheduled to be completed, the student population will have increased by 1,100.

Board member Lou Lopez, who is also on the Anaheim Union High School District board that previously reached a separate agreement with Disney, said that while the high school campuses are large enough to accommodate the expected growth in enrollment, the elementary school campuses already are too crowded. Schools surrounding Disneyland have been placed on year-round schedules to fit everyone in, he added.

“We need an agreement they will support us, because even that verbal support would be a positive for our school district,” Lopez said.