FEES FOR NONPROFITS TABLED LAUSD BACKS OFF CHARGING UNTIL JANUARY, WHEN BOARD WILL REVISIT ISSUE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Unified School District backed off a plan Tuesday to charge community groups for after-hours use of fields and facilities and instead will try to find sponsors to offset the costs.

The school board voted to spend $2.4 million to fund the program through December, and postponed further discussion of possible fees until January, after district staff members have tried to find sponsors.

``This respite is to give me time to sit down with critical people, the new city leadership, youth groups and other representatives from the community to talk about this in a calm, rational way, to see if there are ways to partner with organizations to offset these costs,'' said John Liechty, associate superintendent of extended day programs.

The decision comes months after the district proposed charging $78 for a permit and up to $48 per hour for the use of facilities, igniting a firestorm of criticism from community and nonprofit organizations that said it would force them to cancel activities.

The district estimates it spends $4.8 million a year on personnel, utilities and supplies to allow such groups free use of school facilities.

Board member Mike Lansing supported imposing fees and cautioned his colleagues to be prepared to fund the program through fiscal 2005-06 because it likely would be inconvenient to introduce a new fee system in January, the middle of the school year.

``The reality is the city charges nonprofit organizations to utilize their facilities. They have to charge because they have budgetary issues just like everyone else does - and so do we,'' said Lansing, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor.

``We're not charging anything and we're getting the expense, and my concern is I don't want to cut our program back to keep all these other programs participating for free.''

LAUSD is the only school district in the Southland that does not impose fees. Nearly 20 percent to 30 percent of the youth groups using its facilities are not LAUSD students, Liechty said.

The district grants 2,850 permits a year to youth groups, allowing about 55,000 free uses a year.

The board voted in December to cut $5 million out of the fiscal 2005-06 budget for Beyond the Bell, the district's after-school program that oversees activities including summer school, academic interventions and after-school sports.

To offset the immediate $2.4 million cost, Liechty will contribute $2 million from a fund designated to pay for any Beyond the Bell expenses that exceed its budget.

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com