Task Force Suggests Private Developers Build Schools

A task force led by Mayor Richard Riordan is proposing to solve the Los Angeles classroom shortage by inviting developers to build schools across the city in much the way they build shopping centers.

Following basic specifications from the district, the developers would find and buy the land, finance the construction with bank loans and then sell the completed schools to the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Riordan’s task force is scheduled to pitch the idea to top district officials today during a meeting in the mayor’s office. The district’s chief operating officer, Howard Miller, said he was enthusiastic about the idea.

Attorney O’Malley Miller, chairman of the task force, said the idea of privatizing school construction grew out of the group’s mounting frustration with the district bureaucracy.

Under an agreement with former Supt. Ruben Zacarias, the task force was formed to assist the district in constructing 20 primary centers--schools for kindergarten through third grade. But after 2 1/2 years of mix-ups and delays, only four were completed, O’Malley Miller said.

The district is under enormous pressure to add 120,000 seats in the next six years to relieve overcrowded schools and accommodate anticipated growth. The repeated failures of its building program have led to sharp criticism, including calls for removing the responsibility from the district.

On Wednesday, for example, an official with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control blasted the district’s environmental assessments of potential school sites as substandard. The agency rejected 58 of the district’s 60 initial studies.

The proposal to entrust school building to developers is the latest variation in a theme that surfaced last spring when environmental failures at the Belmont Learning Complex and other schools forced Zacarias to concede that the district’s facilities division was not capable of managing the massive school construction program without help.

An initial proposal to place school construction under an outside agency, possibly answering to the state, faded under objections that it would only replace one bureaucracy with another.

Howard Miller came up with another strategy in December, suggesting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers be retained to manage school design and construction.

He said the use of private construction firms would not conflict with the activities of the corps, which would supplement district staff in preparing specifications and inspecting work.

Late last year, Howard Miller scrapped a master plan calling for several new high schools and middle schools. He concluded that parcels of 15 acres or more required by those schools could not be acquired without wiping out large neighborhoods or locating them on former industrial sites that are polluted.

Instead, he proposed building 150 new primary centers to supply the extra seats and configuring existing schools to serve the higher grades. Elementary schools would be converted to serve grades four through eight and middle schools would be turned into high schools.

Howard Miller reasoned it would be easier to acquire one- and two-acre lots needed for primary centers.

The proposal breathed new life into the mayor’s task force, whose members were on the verge of calling it quits last fall when only two new primary centers opened instead of the 10 scheduled.

“All of those schools have been derailed by one bureaucratic snafu after another, snafus of stunning incompetence,” said O’Malley Miller.

He cited one instance in which district surveyors who were not certified under the American Land Title Assn. bungled establishment of property lines on two school sites.

The task force, which includes two fellows of the American Institute of Architects, shifted its thinking to a private sector solution called “turnkey” construction.

Under that process, the district would sign a contract agreeing to buy a school built to its specifications. The contract would serve as collateral, enabling the developer to obtain financing. As an added incentive, O’Malley Miller said, loans would count toward a federal requirement that banks invest in needy communities.

O’Malley Miller has not made a formal proposal. He said he will float the idea with district officials today to find out how it will be received and to vet potential obstacles, including state public contracting rules.

State law has specific requirements for prevailing wages and selection of architects and engineers, said Howard Miller. In some cases, developers might have to change their procedures to comply, but it might also be necessary to seek legislation to make the proposal work, he said.

Key district officials who are familiar with the idea share Howard Miller’s enthusiasm as well as his awareness of potential snags.

Developers seeking to build schools would not enjoy complete market freedom, for example. They would have to obtain Board of Education approval for each plan and would have to work with community groups in identifying preferred school sites.

“You need significant public input,” Howard Miller said.

Meantime, the district is making progress on a plan to ensure new schools are well designed, said Kathi Littman, an architect recently recruited from the private sector who now heads the new facilities program.

Working with outside architects, Littman has developed drawings for a number of school modules that include classrooms, administrative offices and libraries. They could be combined to fit square, rectangular or odd-shaped lots, Littman said. The drawings would solve basic issues such as the size and placement of bathrooms, freeing architects to shape the components into pleasing buildings that work within their surroundings.

Board member David Tokofsky, who heads the facilities committee, said he sees tremendous possibilities in private school development, but also potential problems with oversight.

“What is ultimately clear is that you have to have top-notch internal district inspectors and auditors,” Tokofsky said. “If you multiply to so many different projects, you better be on top of the billing issues and the quality of the work.”

Board President Genethia Hayes said she believes the district must consider privatization, but added there must be protections to make sure that some portion of the work goes to firms run by women and minorities.