EDITORIAL : A GOLDEN SLIPPER; BILL WOULD GIVE MORE MONEY TO L.A.'S DILAPIDATED COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAMPUSES.

LIKE Cinderella, L.A.'s nine tattered community college campuses are longing to go to the budget ball. If only a fairy godmother would rescue the forgotten sibling of higher education.

As it happens, Gov. Gray Davis has a chance to be a prince and sign legislation giving the Los Angeles Community College District a chance to spiff up its image.

The bill, SB 1283, sponsored by Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, would give the district money to modernize its buildings that are 25 years old or older.

For LACCD, more than 75 percent of its campus facilities would qualify.

If anyone needs proof this measure is necessary, just drive by Pierce College in Woodland Hills or Valley College in Van Nuys.

One look will convince the most jaded taxpayer that they need cash. And SB 1283 is a fair bill that needs the governor's immediate approval.

Granted, the district was its own wicked stepmother in previous years, squandering millions on a frivolous white elephant of an administration building that it never occupied and finally sold. And past boards failed to provide the kind of leadership that would convince former legislatures that they deserved the money.

But that was then. This is now.

The district has a reform-minded board and new leadership and is pointed in the right direction. It's time to stop punishing the students for the mistakes of previous administrators and boards.

The LACCD enrolls nearly 9 percent of all students in California community colleges but received back only 3.6 percent of the money going to build schools and update facilities over the period from 1995 to 2000.

That money instead was diverted to suburban growth areas for new construction.

It's time to restore some fairness to the allocation process.

Be a prince, Gov. Davis, take L.A. to the ball.