ONE YEAR AFTER THE PASSAGE OF PROP. BB; LAUSD'S PRACTICES HAVE BACKERS FEELING BETRAYED.

Byline: Terri Hardy

A year ago, as grandmother and former teacher Jean Domine of Winnetka knocked on doors in search of support for a $2.4 billion school improvement bond measure, she encountered many skeptics.

Los Angeles school officials, they said, can't be trusted with so much money.

Well aware of the Los Angeles Unified School District's low standing in public esteem, Proposition BB campaign leaders fought back with promises: independent citizens would provide real oversight on how every dollar was spent and the money would be distributed according to a strict set of contracts with each campus.

Proposition BB passed, the first school bond for the LAUSD since 1971 - largely due to Domine and hundreds of volunteers like her, who passionately believed that crumbling Los Angeles schools deprived the children.

Now Domine is one of the skeptics.

``I feel like I've been stabbed in the back,'' she said.

In the past 12 months, she has watched the LAUSD betray the campaign promises of citizens' oversight, attempt to divert money for such improper uses as parent centers and an extravagant new high school, and engage in questionable bidding practices.

The chorus of criticism has risen steadily over the course of the year: Mayor Richard Riordan, the 11-member oversight committee, the teachers union, business leaders and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein - and even former Assemblyman Richard Katz, who led the school bond campaign.

``It's become clear very rapidly that the LAUSD is structurally incapable of dealing with the money and the work in the way they promised,'' Katz said.

The one-year anniversary of the passage of Proposition BB offers a rare and disquieting look at how the LAUSD manages its affairs.

Those hoping that the district would make the most of voters' unusual largess have instead encountered staff bureaucrats engaging in multimillion-dollar turf wars with contractors, board members who focus more on politics than progress, and a superintendent who intervened only when it became a crisis.

Steve Soboroff, a senior aide to Riordan and chairman of the BB Blue Ribbon Citizens' Oversight Committee, said for all these reasons and more, there is no cause for celebration on the first anniversary of Proposition BB. The oversight committee - perhaps the most critical component of the BB ``sell'' - has been forced to fight the district's intransigence every step of the way, while sidestepping blatant attempts to undermine or terminate its authority.

``It feels like we've been through boot camp,'' Soboroff said.

A difficult year

Since April 1997 there have been about 850 improvements completed out of the 10,800 promised - or nearly 8 percent. Projects have been scheduled over a five-year period.

Whether that constitutes a successful first year is a matter of substantial debate. But what is clear is that there have been setbacks, including the departure of two top managers: Ruth Hobbs, a construction management specialist charged with overseeing the BB landscape; and the LAUSD official she was to report to, district business czar Hugh Jones, who quit after just two months on the job.

More importantly, progress has been obstructed by the district's efforts to maintain control over two-thirds of the BB projects rather than assigning the work to the 10 highly paid and experienced construction management teams - as voted by the board.

Afraid to complain publicly, the project managers faxed a confidential memo to BB committee members mystified by the slow progress of bond work.

``I felt betrayed, deceived,'' Soboroff said. ``I've learned that everything has to be watched and all information challenged.''

The district has spent more than $167 million in the San Fernando Valley. With about one-third of the district's students, the Valley captured more than 35 percent of the $470 million expended, according to statistics provided by Dennis Martinez, program manager for 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg, the construction management company charged with overseeing the BB work.

Martinez said he believed BB work was on schedule and on budget. But assessing the first year was difficult because no goals had been set by the district, he said.

Several principals interviewed said they had no complaints and are thrilled to finally receive long-awaited repairs and air conditioning.

Eileen Banta, principal at crumbling Cleveland High School in Reseda, said she couldn't say she was happy with the BB program until repairs are completed.

``I am optimistic, though,'' Banta said. ``And I haven't been that way in an awful long time.''

Tim Lynch, deputy controller for Los Angeles and BB committee members, said it has been impossible to accurately judge the bond program's progress because of inaccurate and conflicting information that's been given out by Martinez and the district.

``It's my No. 1 disappointment of this past year,'' Lynch said. ``We still don't have realistic, validated numbers.''

Progress despite the bumps

Superintendent Ruben Zacarias concedes that some people may be disillusioned with the district's handling of the bond program, but stressed that progress is substantial.

``When you consider that this is the largest undertaking of its kind in the nation, overall we've done pretty well,'' Zacarias said.

``There have been some bumps along the road, but now we're picking up speed and are on track.''

Board of Education President Julie Korenstein, whose district is entirely in the San Fernando Valley, said the district's progress had been unbelievable.

``The first year we were heavy into planning approval, designs and getting legislation passed to speed air conditioning,'' Korenstein. ``All the groundwork has been laid, and now work is only going to speed up in the coming years.''

Korenstein noted that in New York and Detroit schools, no repairs were completed in the first year after they passed bond measures.

But Martinez, whose firm oversaw the New York work, said that was intentional. The board decided to spend a year planning before embarking on a massive repair campaign.

``Here, it was decided to immediately begin work because they wanted to show voters immediate results,'' Martinez said. ``In hindsight, it might have been better for the district to take some time planning its course of action.''

A nonexistent budget is hardly the only concern. The district also has been working without a master plan for new schools, and BB oversight committee members have grown increasingly uncomfortable recommending the use of tens of millions of dollars for new schools when the district's needs and priorities - as well as its budget - seem so murky.

``Eventually we're going to run out of money,'' said Lynch, who has abstained on the new construction and refused to vote on new school expenditures because building priorities are unclear. ``I don't think any mistakes have been made yet, but if we go much further, yes.''

Money for a `Taj Mahal'

Looking back, trouble over the use of BB funds began only a scant week after the April 8 election.

Board members announced plans to funnel $43.5 million in BB funds to pay for part of the Belmont Learning Complex, a downtown high school critics have dubbed the ``Taj Mahal'' - the most expensive high school in the nation.

During the campaign, voters had been repeatedly told the bond was for repairs, air conditioning and class-size reduction.

Even worse, the board intended to act without first going to the oversight committee, saying it was their intent to have the group review expenditures after the fact.

``I was furious,'' Domine recalled. ``I was very naive. I had told people again and again that whatever was done had to go to the oversight committee first - that was a big selling point.''

District officials were keenly aware that the idea of oversight was persuasive to voters. Board of Education member David Tokofsky, who had pushed for the idea of a monitoring panel, said most of his colleagues never intended to use the citizens group.

``The majority of the board never believed they should provide any real oversight. That was conveyed to the superintendent and to the director of the facilities - that we are the legitimate authority,'' he said.

Further, Tokofsky admits that the board kept the Belmont funding plan under wraps during the BB campaign, acutely aware of its potentially devastating impact. The plan worked: then-Deputy Superintendent Zacarias - and even Katz - said they did not know that Belmont was to be funded with BB money.

``In a week, the district squandered 72 percent of the electorate that we worked incredibly hard to get,'' Katz said. ``They've spent all year trying to get it back.''

Public outrage wins

The board had not counted on the groundswell of outrage from voters.

In a pattern that would be repeated throughout the year, political pressure generated by news reports swayed the board to change its policy. United Teachers Los Angeles also joined in, filing an injunction to stop work on Belmont until the citizens committee reviewed the project and could determine whether bond money should be used.

The day after the Daily News broke the Belmont betrayal story, then-board President Jeff Horton announced the LAUSD would not use bond money for it.

That set a pattern repeated throughout the first year. Soboroff and his committee would learn that the district usually ignored problems until it was made into a news event.

Finally, the BB committee voted that bond money should not be used for Belmont, but said it would revisit the matter if the state agreed to provide matching funds.

Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne ruled that there had been proper oversight and lifted the construction ban. But more importantly, the judge insisted that voters expected oversight, not hindsight, validating the BB committee's role.

Air conditioning

Despite a massive list of delayed maintenance on schools, the district chose to press forward on two projects: air conditioning, because of its political popularity, and painting, because it was a quick way to show progress.

In May, Riordan and Soboroff announced an innovative proposal: Install air conditioning at 300 schools on an 18-month fast track using an outside company to do the work. The next day, Zacarias said he supported the concept. That would be the last time the issue would be conflict-free.

As energy companies ferociously competed for the lucrative work, the district maintained it could do the work just as quickly and for less money. But as a grueling summer wore on, San Fernando Valley business leaders, Katz and the BB committee became more vocal, loudly deriding the district for failing to cinch a deal because they wanted to control the work themselves.

The situation deteriorated into a cross-fire between the LAUSD and the energy companies. With the entire fast track concept on the verge of collapse, Zacarias finally stepped in, ignoring internal pressure for the district and ordered Jones to choose an outside firm.

Jones resigned on the day his recommendation was due. The issue remained in limbo until Zacarias negotiated to allow the remaining bidders, which had joined forces, to install air conditioning at schools by March 1999. But it was too late - the consortium fell apart, though talks continue with PG&E and others.

Riordan said LAUSD's strategy awarding many small contracts has been ``a total disaster.''

``This was all about lower-level bureaucrats wanting the power to give the contracts out,'' Riordan said.

Battles for change

Similarly, a BB committee plan to landscape hundreds of school playgrounds as they are repaved stalled when the school board questioned maintenance and start-up costs. But public pressure led to a quick turnaround and approval.

Despite concerns raised from principals, teachers and students that window grilles installed without escape latches could turn classrooms into deathtraps during fires, the district only acted when the public found out. Guidelines then were adopted for release levers and two doors for new portable classrooms.

As the committee became more vocal - and more critical - about the school board's BB actions, tensions grew. LAUSD legal staff even explored a legal basis to challenge the committee's role, but a board majority didn't have the stomach for a new fight.

Misuses of contracts

To show BB dollars at work, the district skirted competitive bidding rules by issuing massive numbers of ``B'' contracts - work orders intended for small or emergency jobs.

The District Attorney's Office had launched a probe into allegations that the district was intentionally splitting work into small contracts, illegal if it is done to circumvent competitive bidding.

Despite extensive problems over the past year, critics see cause for optimism.

They point to the recent decision by Zacarias to end the long-running battle between the BB committee and Beth Louargand, general manager of facilities, by taking her off the project. The bond program now will be run as originally envisioned, with Martinez in charge, and most of the work being directed to the 10 construction management teams.

Martinez in turn will report to an internal policy committee, including Soboroff and top district officials.

``That was their first step toward regaining credibility,'' Katz said. ``This entire first year was all about a titanic struggle between the status quo and change. Louargand's removal symbolized the collapse of the old guard.

``Now they can really move forward.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Drawing

Photo: (1--Color) no caption (School)

(2) JULIE KORENSTEIN

(3) RUBEN ZACARIAS

Drawing: BELMONT LEARNING COMPLEX