Shift of Funds for School Quake Repairs OKd : Education: State board backs spending $30 million earmarked for academies. Officials say recovery work is more important.

A state panel Wednesday approved shifting $30 million earmarked for a new Los Angeles high school program to pay for earthquake repairs, delaying for at least one year the creation of special high school academies.

Approval to use the state funds came the same day as release of a school district report that found major communications problems at district schools in the aftermath of the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The State Allocation Board, in a meeting Wednesday, granted a Los Angeles Unified School District request to use the $30 million for earthquake repairs.

State Finance Department officials had recommended that the state bond money be used for earthquake claims rather than new programs, said Wales Woodard, deputy director of the Office of Local Assistance.

The district had planned to set up five new schools for students interested in careers in medicine, science, business and entertainment. The so-called Career Development Partnership Academy Project--which was to have campuses in Van Nuys, Hollywood, Downtown, Compton and Southeast Los Angeles--was designed as a partnership among the city, state and private developers.

Money to create the new schools could be reimbursed with the passage of a school construction bond on the November ballot, officials said. But the district might not receive all the money needed to create the five campuses.

Nonetheless, district officials said earthquake repairs are more important.

Officials said release of the state money would also spur the federal government into funding its share of the repairs, which are estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The state is obligated to pay a portion of the earthquake repair bill that is being handed over to the federal government.

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The 15-page earthquake response report, prepared at the request of Board of Education President Mark Slavkin in February, contained few surprises and underscored the need for updated equipment and an improved emergency plan.

The report’s recommendations include:

* Creation of an emergency operations center--equipped with a gasoline-powered generator--that has ample space for employees, telephone lines and computer equipment.

* Purchase of five radio frequencies to ensure that workers can contact all district sites when telephones are not working.

* Improvement of emergency training, including annual refresher courses, for administrators and other employees.

* Requiring that furniture, such as bookcases, be bolted to the walls to minimize injuries and damage.

The school board is expected to formally receive the report at a special meeting next month. Slavkin declined to comment until he could review the report with district Supt. Sid Thompson.

But Helen Fallon, who chairs the 10th District Parent Teacher Student Assn.’s earthquake preparedness committee, blasted the report.

“It doesn’t answer the question: If you had an earthquake during school, how are you going to ensure the students’ safety?” she said. “For having waited this long, I was rather disappointed. This is it?”