Backers of Levy for Schools Cite Thefts

A rash of burglaries and computer thefts across the Los Angeles Unified School District--adding up to $16 million in losses over the last three years--will be used to rally support for a proposed $2.4-billion November bond measure, school board members say.

The thefts and vandalism, made possible by a lack of funds for adequate security, dramatize the need for a local school bond, said board President Mark Slavkin and member Julie Korenstein.

Today, the board is expected to decide whether to put a measure on the ballot that would tax homeowners at least $75 annually for new school construction, technology and increased security.

“Clearly, as more schools have more high-tech technological equipment, you need to have corresponding security--alarm systems, window grills,” Slavkin said. “Security will be a major priority of the bond measure.”

To pass, however, the measure would have to get two-thirds of the vote within the district’s boundaries, which include Los Angeles and surrounding communities. The last such bond measure was proposed in 1974 and failed.

Part of the theft problem, experts noted, is that computer technology has outpaced computer security. Too often, schools that have spent thousands of dollars on state-of-the-art computers--the money frequently raised by parents and students--find themselves too poor to pay for an alarm system. As a result, burglars can easily skirt the security measures that are taken, cutting through metal lock-down devices, prying off security screens and jimmying door locks in their hunt for easily resellable computer hardware.

Even if the district had the money to install alarms in every school, computer thefts would not entirely stop, said a frustrated teachers union President Helen Bernstein. But Bernstein placed responsibility for school security at the public’s feet, noting that the district already spends millions of instructional dollars from its $4.4-billion budget on safety measures and school police--money that would otherwise pay for books and other teaching necessities.

“People want everything for nothing,” Bernstein said. “These are public schools. The public needs to support . . . raising taxes and levies.”

Lynne Caulkins, a lobbyist for the Los Angeles Parent Teacher Student Assn., said she hoped that schools bolster security with the state monies promised last month by Gov. Pete Wilson.

In his revised 1996-97 budget, Wilson vowed to boost education funding by $1.7 billion, including a $50,000 grant to every public school that could be used for almost anything but staffing.

“There is a lot of crime going on,” Caulkins said. “But it’s pretty low when you steal the technology kids need to get an education.”