SCHOOL LAND BUY RECEIVES BOARD OK : FACILITIES PLANNED TO RELIEVE CROWDING.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Eastside Union School District officials have approved buying 20 acres from the city of Lancaster for $213,000 to build a new middle school and a district office.

The move would free up space for students at Eastside Elementary School and Cole Middle School, which share property at 70th Street East and Avenue H with the current district office, but may require voter approval of a general-revenue bond to finance construction.

``We'll start building when we get the money,'' board member Ida Ward said.

The board voted unanimously at Monday's meeting to approve extending the monetary offer to the city, which must now approve the offer, officials said.

The vacant land is located south of Avenue I and east of 30th Street East and is close to Tierra Bonita School and Tierra Bonita Park. Part of the land contained the Desert Breeze Mobile Home Park, which the city bought in 1994. The city moved the residents to other mobile home parks because of health and building code violations.

The district will use its share of money from Lancaster redevelopment agency revenue to pay for the land, so there will be no drain on the district's general fund.

Faced with the prospect that the state will only consider construction projects that have 50 percent funding from local sources already in place, district officials said they are considering paying for the new middle school and district office by putting a bond measure before voters in March 1998.

Eastside Elementary and Cole Middle School house their students in a permanent building and in 30 portable classrooms leased from the state, officials said.

Under the plan, Cole Middle School students would relocate to the new site, allowing the elementary students to move into the permanent quarters. Moving the district office also will create more room.