Laggard in School Funds Race

Students of Los Angeles public schools are being punished for the mistakes of adults. Their parents cannot count on the promise of 100 new schools to reduce busing and relieve overcrowding any time soon because the district is losing the race for state school bond construction funds.

While smaller suburban and rural school districts rush their applications to the state and gobble up bond money approved on a first-come, first-served basis, the Los Angeles Unified School District bureaucracy plods along. The district is also hampered by the expense and scarcity of land suitable for new schools. Industrial sites often contain environmental hazards and residential properties prompt neighborhood opposition.

And there is the “Belmont factor,” the $200-million high school under construction on an abandoned oil field now found to be contaminated. The district says that another Belmont fiasco cannot happen. No one is taking the LAUSD’s word, and who can wonder why? But there are some new safeguards in place, first and foremost a new reform-minded school board.

In the wake of Belmont, new LAUSD school sites must be approved by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the district’s new safety team and the Proposition BB citizens committee, which guards against waste of funding from the proposition. The way the district identifies school sites and builds campuses is also expected to improve greatly because of the Belmont Review Commission, the independent board determining whether to proceed or pull the plug on the half-built campus.

The old, arrogant way of doing business at the LAUSD is not expected to withstand the investigation of Don Mullinax, the aggressive internal watchdog who is expected to name names, past and present, and hold people accountable in his Sept. 14 report. Cronyism is also being scrutinized by a Little Hoover Commission investigation, and inquiries are finally being made by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.

Proposition BB Chairman Steve Soboroff wants the Legislature to pass a bill setting aside at least $1 billion of the state school construction money for the LAUSD. That will be a tough sell in Sacramento, where legislators think first of their own district needs. There’s only one strong reason why Sacramento ought to support some sort of special consideration for Los Angeles public schools: the huge number of children who, through no fault of their own, are attending school in a district that is running out of room.