The Lost Year

Hey, kids. Want to skip a year of school?

It’s easy. Attend classes on a multi-track, year-round calendar and lose up to 17 days per school year. Over the course of elementary, middle and high school, the loss adds up to nearly a year, although the time is theoretically made up by a longer school day.

Not surprisingly, year-round students on average lag others in test scores.

No one wants to do this to students or teachers. But critically overcrowded school districts, like Los Angeles, have no other choice until they build scores of new schools.

Granted, the Los Angeles Unified School District failed miserably at school-building for a generation. even as enrollment rose dramatically. Now, finally, the district is on track to build at least dozens of schools, but it needs more money to get there.

The state Legislature is expected this week to consider putting $25billion in two school bonds before voters in November of this year and March 2003. It’s only fair that those bond measures include extra assistance for districts that suffer the worst crowding.

When the school facilities conference committee, co-chaired by state Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado) and Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin (D-Duncans Mills), takes up this proposal, which is not yet in bill form, some members will push to reduce the planned overcrowding set-aside, currently pegged at $4.5billion.

Districts that most needed new schools often lost out until recently on state school construction funds. That’s because they were handed out on a first-come, first-served basis after a district secured the land and received all required state approvals. This formula made it more difficult for urban districts because they lack large, available tracts of unsullied land.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of students cheated by the state formula resulted in giving those districts more time to complete their applications. That has helped, but the affected districts need more.

The proposed $4.5-billion reserve would help districts such as Los Angeles, Long Beach, Compton, Montebello and Santa Ana.

Getting schools built efficiently, on time and in budget is matter of more than money. But without money, the process can’t even get started.

The Legislature should hold out for the full $4.5billion for crowded districts rather than add to the years that students will be handed a get-out-of-school-free card.