EDITORIAL : A POWERFUL TOOL; LAUSD'S INTERNAL AUDITOR WAS GIVEN THE POWER TO SUBPOENA DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES IN HIS INVESTIGATION, NOW IT'S TIME FOR RESULTS.

ON Wednesday, Gov. Gray Davis gave the Los Angeles Unified School District's director of internal audits and special investigations, Don Mullinax, the unprecedented power to subpoena documents and compel testimony in his investigations.

Now it's up to Mullinax to use that extraordinary power - no other inspector general in the state has had the ability to require witnesses to testify - to find out just what happened, so the nation's second-largest district can take appropriate action against anyone who caused waste and fraud.

For most of the seven months Mullinax has been on the job, he has focused on the financial matters dealing with the troubled Belmont Learning Center.

Mullinax has set Sept. 14 for the long-awaited release of the first of at least two Belmont reports. He had hoped to release it weeks ago but decided to hold off because he said he was having trouble getting district officials and contractors to turn over pertinent documents. He has wanted to make it as complete as possible.

He was criticized a few months ago for leaving too many questions unanswered in a report on alleged bid-splitting by the district's facilities department to avoid competitive bidding for purchasing portable classrooms.

Mullinax should no longer have a problem obtaining information, unless potential targets have already started feeding shredding machines.

With the wide latitude to investigate and the power to go to court to force otherwise uncooperative witnesses into assisting him, Mullinax should be able to learn who is responsible for making decisions and drafting reports that led to what looks like a multimillion-dollar fiasco.

High expectations abound for Mullinax's Belmont reports. He has indicated he will be critical of decisions, name the decision-makers and recommend punishments for those responsible.

Should he allege criminal wrongdoing, it would then behoove District Attorney Gil Garcetti to get involved with a full investigation and the appropriate prosecution.

If Mullinax's report falls short of fully explaining what happened, then it will further solidify the notion that no one inside the district can find out the truth of what's going on inside the North Grand Avenue headquarters, no matter how much authority he is given - even by the governor.

We're hoping that's not the case. The public deserves the full story on Belmont. And those responsible must be held accountable.