Proposal to Build School Is Pulled From Board Agenda

A proposal to build a $36-million elementary school in Southeast Los Angeles with bond funds was hastily pulled from Monday’s school board agenda amid fears of reigniting the furor that followed a vote to similarly finance a downtown high school.

Supt. Ruben Zacarias criticized Los Angeles Unified School District staff members for seeking board approval before the bond’s appointed oversight committee had made a recommendation on the plan, saying the administrators “just don’t get it.”

In April, voters approved Proposition BB, a $2.4-billion school repair and construction bond. Public elation soon turned to outrage, however, when the school board signaled it would use some of those bonds to build the Belmont Learning Center high school without a full review by the oversight panel.

The proposed elementary school in some respects has a leg up on the controversial high school. It already has state approval, and it was included on a priority construction list submitted to the oversight panel in April.

“There are no red flags in this,” said oversight committee chairman Steven Soboroff.

But Zacarias said he was shocked to discover the item when he reviewed the board agenda late Sunday night. He asked that it be pulled first thing Monday morning.

“If I have to stamp it on people’s heads, I will,” he said. “If one penny of Proposition BB money is being used, [the project] must be reviewed and approved by the oversight committee.”

The committee will review the plan at its June 17 meeting.

Concerns about the manner in which the elementary school proposal was handled resurrect debate about the oversight panel’s role, which in the bond legislation was described as advisory only and focused primarily on producing expenditure reviews. But a judge who reviewed a lawsuit challenging the Belmont decision ruled that the panel should be given a chance to review the project before the board decided how to fund it.