SCHOOL PLANS CALLED SHAKY.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Unified School District's ambitious plan to handle skyrocketing enrollment by building and reopening 51 schools for $1.8 billion is based upon a financial house of cards, members of a citizens oversight panel said Wednesday.

The district is counting on $900 million from Proposition BB bond money, but the full amount may not be available if repair work exceeds estimates.

Even more uncertain is another necessary source of money: $574 million in matching funds coming from a California bond issue. Questions remaining include whether it will make it onto the ballot and pass muster with voters - and even whether it will provide the level of funding envisioned.

Even if all of the money were available, the estimated cost of building the schools is far from firm. One new high school already approved is expected to cost almost $4 million more than previously budgeted, and no updated budgets for other planned campuses were available.

All the uncertainty makes members of the BB Citizens Oversight Committee nervous.

``I don't know where they're going to get the money. They don't know where they're going to get the money,'' said Tim Lynch, deputy controller for Los Angeles and vice chairman of the oversight committee. ``All I do know is that there is no way they're going to get enough money for 51 schools.''

District officials this week announced plans for a massive new construction effort to deal with nearly 80,000 more students within the next eight years. Brad Sales, a spokesman for the LAUSD, acknowledged the plan's deficits Wednesday.

``Certainly there are a lot of `ifs' in the plan, but we still need to have a plan and need to move forward,'' he said. ``Yes, there's a possibility that repairs could cost more and cut into the $900 million. Yes, we need a state bond or we're in trouble.''

The district advertised to voters that Proposition BB was exclusively a way to fix dilapidated schools, not to build new ones. Now members of the oversight committee say those needed repairs might exceed what was initially budgeted.

The problem, committee members said, is that the district still has no idea how much the repairs promised in individual school contracts will cost. They believe it is likely that spending will exceed the $800 million estimated for repairs - especially since campuses were allowed to add other improvements.

``I think the district is going to run out of BB money much sooner than anticipated,'' Lynch said.

Only recently has the construction management team overseeing BB repairs begun to compile firm budget figures, despite warning bells sounded months ago by the committee.

``Promises of repairs are what sold this bond to voters, and it is important that we deal with them first and foremost,'' said Steve Soboroff, chairman of the BB committee.

No concrete numbers

Dennis Martinez, program manager for the construction management teams of 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg, said the district is in complete agreement with the BB committee.

``Honoring the school contracts is priority No. 1,'' he said.

Martinez defended the lack of budget, saying it wasn't until now that firm bids for repairs were available. He said he hopes to have the budget completed by mid- to late June, but at this time has no sense of whether the repair budget will exceed $800 million.

Although the district has been working so far without a concrete budget or master plan, it has continued to push forward proposals to load schools with portable classrooms, build primary centers and begin work on new schools identified as high-priority.

BB committee members have responded to district appeals by approving tens of millions of dollars for new schools, but are growing increasingly uncomfortable giving OKs without a budget.

Erik Nasarenko, a spokesman for the LAUSD's facilities department, said Wednesday he could not provide an accounting of how much of the $900 million has already been committed. And he could not determine if any of that money has gone to purposes outside the proposed new building plan.

Already, estimates for a new South Gate High School have increased from $76.6 million to $80 million since 1996, district documents show.

Updated estimates for other schools, identified as high priorities in July - some where land purchases are already under way - were not available Wednesday, Nasarenko said.

A statewide bond

Crucial to the district's plan is another unknown - a potential state construction bond.

On Tuesday, Assembly leaders and Gov. Pete Wilson agreed on a framework for placing a $9 billion school bond measure on the November ballot.

However, lawmakers tentatively agreed to change the formula for funding new schools, which would likely mean less money for the LAUSD. Instead of getting half of the actual cost of building the school, the district would get 50 percent of the average state expense for building the same campus.