PORTABLES GET LEGISLATIVE AIRING; ASSEMBLY LOOKS AT HEALTH, ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES.

Byline: Terri Hardy Sacramento Bureau

Portable buildings are the fastest-growing type of classrooms in the state's public schools, but little is done to ensure indoor air quality or protect teachers and students against other reported problems with them, officials said Friday at a legislative hearing.

School districts often lack the resources to deal with such concerns, and the potential problems are so big that the state should exempt schools from liability for the issue, much as was done with asbestos in the 1980s, said a Saugus Union School District consultant.

``What I suggest we do is the same thing for standards of indoor air quality - school districts should not be held responsible,'' consultant Robert Campbell testified. The cost of fixing such problems is unknown and worrisome, he said.

``Twenty million (dollars)? A billion? Everyone is nervous as heck.''

The Assembly Select Committee on School Safety called the hearing to receive comments about portable classroom buildings, which have increased statewide from 43,000 in 1991 to as many as 100,000 this year, according to estimates.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District alone, some 161,000 students attend classes in 6,400 portables. Such structures can be placed on campuses to accommodate higher enrollment and class-size reduction efforts.

The Assembly panel was told that despite the increasing use of portables, no government agency is clearly responsible for the safety of teachers and students in them, and the state has no standards defining dangerous chemical-exposure levels for children.

Assemblywoman Sally Havice, D-Artesia, chair of the committee, said school districts must not ignore the issue. She said she intends to push for requirements on the proper placement of portables and making a state agency responsible for such bungalow classrooms.

``We are not interested in creating problems for districts, but there comes a time when we have to put our collective foot down,'' Havice said. ``Not looking at problems is not the answer.''

Air quality in portable classrooms is a concern of scientists, health officials, parents and others.

An independent research group concluded that more than a third of the state's children in portable classrooms potentially face an ``unacceptable'' risk of exposure to cancer-causing toxins in the air.

The San Francisco-based Environmental Working Group's recent study found dangerous levels of formaldehyde, as well as other chemicals used in manufacturing, in poorly ventilated portables.

Also, an unpublished state study said anecdotal reports show a need for a statewide monitoring program.

Tests showed portable classrooms in Saugus - where teachers and students had complained of ill health - had levels of formaldehyde that posed as much as three times the cancer risk allowed under federal law.

Campbell said the environmental conditions in the Saugus Union classrooms could not be conclusively linked to the health complaints. Such a connection is difficult to prove, officials acknowledge.

Manufacturers and distributors of the portable units contend that any toxins are mainly in older ones, and are not a result of the materials used in construction.

A survey of 144 school districts by the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, an association of educators and portable manufacturers, found more than a third had complaints from schools attributed to moisture, poor ventilation, mold and maintenance. However, the study concluded that ``the percentage of classrooms with indoor air quality problems is negligible overall.''

Barbara Spark, director of indoor air quality for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said not enough is known about the subject and more investigation is crucial.