District Agrees to Strict Building Rules : Schools: Plan for spending oversight is expected to persuade state panel to release $278 million in bond funds.

Hoping to head off future scandals, Los Angeles Unified School District officials agreed Tuesday to stricter school construction oversight--a move that is expected to free $278 million in state bond funds that had been blocked by critics of the district’s Belmont Learning Complex.

The State Allocation Board is expected to approve the funding request this afternoon, signaling that the district has regained the confidence of Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles) and other officials who had questioned its ability to build safe campuses.

Last month, Wildman used his position on the allocation board to hold up approval of the money. Worried that the district would build another Belmont Learning Complex--the environmentally plagued high school under construction near downtown Los Angeles--Wildman and other critics said the district should not receive class-size reduction funding from Proposition 1A, the largest school bond measure in state history.

On Tuesday, Wildman and other top school officials and political leaders signed an agreement in support of releasing the funds, which would be used to build 12 elementary schools and 36 primary centers, as well as to acquire land to expand playgrounds at 55 campuses.

All told, the district plans to build 100 schools in the next decade to accommodate surging enrollment.

Among the reform measures agreed upon Tuesday, school officials will more strictly adhere to state Department of Education requirements and guidelines for new schools.

“With the safeguards in place which would prevent another disaster like Belmont, I can offer my support,” said Wildman. He insisted that the agreement specify that none of the $278 million would go toward Belmont.

Don Mullinax, L.A. Unified’s chief auditor, who issued a scathing report on Belmont last week, said that his office will ensure that the funds are used properly. If anyone is found guilty of wrongdoing, he said, “we will hold those individuals accountable.”

Also offering their support Tuesday were mayoral candidate Steve Soboroff, chairman of a committee that oversees the spending of Proposition BB funds; Genethia Hayes, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education; school board member Caprice Young; and state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar).

Officials signed the agreement at Victory Boulevard Elementary School in North Hollywood, which was built in the 1930s for 200 students. The school now operates year-round to accommodate 1,700 students. Buses carry an additional 300 neighborhood students to schools as far as 15 miles away.

Approved by voters last November, Proposition 1A provides $6.7 billion for elementary and secondary schools. Of that, about $700 million is earmarked for class-size reduction.

The district still risks losing Proposition 1A funding for building an additional 48 schools if officials fail to identify school sites, purchase land and devise architectural plans before the state’s June 30 deadline.

School districts throughout California are competing for the money on a first-come, first-served basis.

Los Angeles officials argue that this approach gives smaller and rural districts an advantage because they do not have the obstacles of high real estate prices, environmental problems and neighborhood opposition.

Soboroff has proposed that the state set aside $1.4 billion for Los Angeles schools. “Without Los Angeles voters, Proposition 1A would not have passed,” he said.

So far, Los Angeles Unified has secured $22 million for new construction and $67 million to upgrade old schools.