Posted on 05/11/2007 1:24:03 PM PDT by Zakeet
The district's campus construction shortfall jumps from $1.6 billion to $2.4 billion. Officials look for more money.
The projected shortfall in the new Los Angeles Unified School District's campus construction program has ballooned from $1.6 billion to at least $2.4 billion in the last six months, the result of spiraling construction costs. And Los Angeles school officials, who were already scrambling to cover the lower shortfall, have no plan in place that would entirely make up the gap.
The alarm from staff members emerged Thursday during a committee meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Education. It was a familiar one — but with much higher numbers. Last November the messenger had been outgoing Supt. Roy Romer, who warned of potential trouble to come in the $20-billion-plus school construction and modernization program — the nation's largest — which has been a point of pride for the school district.
"We have the end in sight," chief facilities executive Guy Mehula said in an interview. "But putting too many of these projects on hold will not only increase costs, it will delay further our goal of getting a neighborhood school for every child."
[Snip]
Officials hope to get some relief from the Legislature. Two bills would, if they became law, provide $870 million. One would take into account rising costs when handing out state construction funds; the other would make L.A. Unified eligible for more state aid. Neither law is a sure thing, and neither would be nearly enough.
Local voters already have passed school bond measures — in 1997, 2002, 2004 and 2005 — and they may get asked again. To retire the current bonds, homeowners are paying $106.74 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
More classrooms for Mexico’s children!
The shame is the nice tagging that goes on at these quarter billion high schools and such.
What a cesspool that LA is! Another great American city ruined by liberalism.(with cover from Rinos of course)
I agree. I was raised in LA many, many years ago. It was a great city. The schools were some of the best. A lot of the cost of new schools is going to the designers of the schools. Each district has to have a specially designed school. All they need to do is pick a design they like and copy it around the city. Cut off the high priced designers.
The other problem I see......they can’t even graduate 50% of the kids out of high school. In some areas of LA it down to 30%. That in itself should tell them something.
Deport all the illegal aliens and their anchor babies and there would be more than enough space in LA’s schools.
Isn’t it strange how school funding is based on property taxes, but then people cram 15 of themselves into single-family dwellings and there isn’t enough property tax revenue for the services those 15 require ?
Rather than expecting people from other areas of the state — or even the county — to pick up the tab, this needs to be funded by taxes on the precise neighborhoods these schools will serve.
They’re only spending $20 billion on construction? I think it should be a lot higher. After all, it’s for the children.
You gotta love those incompentent boobs in L.A. government!...Who cares?...Taxpayer picks up the tab for all those construction cost overruns anyway!....After all it’s for the children (of illegal immigrants)....
This is not unique to LA. Big problem here in NYC as well. I assume the rest of the US metro areas are suffering the same problem. 20% construction costs escalation each year.
Three words: Belmont Learning Center
I notice in the paper today the LAUSD graduation rate for 06 was 41%. Talk about falling down on the job. We are developing a permit underclass that can only lead to trouble in the future.
LOL, surprise, surprise.
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