School Watchdog Needs This Tool

Were Gov. Gray Davis in Los Angeles, he could take a walk around the stilled Belmont Learning Complex construction site, just west of the Civic Center. The unfinished high school, now a potent symbol of public waste and mismanagement, surely would persuade him to sign an extension of the subpoena power of the school district’s investigative watchdog.

The bill, a valedictory sponsored by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), would grant an extension until 2005; the subpoena power is scheduled to expire Jan. 1. The inspector general of the Los Angeles Unified School District needs more than a bully pulpit to do his job. Before the current and first inspector general, Don Mullinax, got the power to subpoena witnesses and records, many contractors refused to cooperate in the Belmont probe. Inspectors general for the federal government, the Chicago public schools and New York City school construction funds all have subpoena power.

Mullinax has issued only five subpoenas, all related to Belmont, and they helped uncover what he called the “denials, delays and defense of the indefensible” that led to the $175-million mistake. The school was built without adequate environmental assessment, and in spite of warnings, on old oil fields that seep dangerous gases. Mullinax believes that just the threat of an embarrassing subpoena is enough to induce some reluctant parties to cooperate.

The inspector general has the support of Supt. Roy Romer and the Los Angeles school board on this issue.

Belmont is the biggest problem Mullinax has confronted. But it is not the only project likely to ever go awry in a school district that has a budget of $8.4 billion, school bond money, a poor track record on building new schools and a history of not holding employees accountable. Projects under review include those financed by Proposition BB, the $2.4-billion school construction and repair bond issue, a major source of financing for current work in the district. A powerful inspector general is needed to recommend internal fixes and to discourage any contractors who might be tempted to misuse public dollars.

Davis has not declared his position on SB 1360. The stalled Belmont project, where protective sheeting is coming loose and graffiti mars the fence, is a convincing argument for approval. So is the old Belmont High School, which is so crowded that many students who live nearby are bused far from their neighborhood to other campuses. The governor should sign the bill to keep a strong inspector on the prowl.