State Allocation Board

Santa Ana's plan to build a new high school has received the blessing--and the funds--of state government. The State Allocation Board in Sacramento has allocated about $28 million for the project, Clarke Stone, associate superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District, announced Thursday. "We think this money will be sufficient for buying the land and constructing the new school," Stone said.

Trustees for the Antelope Valley Union High School District have agreed to accept a hilltop school site from a developer despite the expectation that the state Department of Education will not approve it. The high school district accepted the property, donated by the developer of the 7,200-home master planned Ritter Ranch, on the condition that the state agency that funds school construction, the State Allocation Board, will overturn the education department's rejection of the site.

The Fullerton School District has adopted a resolution supporting Proposition 203, the $3-billion statewide bond measure that would provide funding for public schools to rebuild, repair, retrofit and construct buildings and wire classrooms for computers and other technology. Voters will decide the proposition's fate at the polls March 26. Should the measure pass, the district will receive about $651,000 to fund the preparation of 12 modernization projects.

The school district stands to gain $17.7 million for the modernization and expansion of four schools and the construction of Thorpe Elementary School, officials said. The State Allocation Board, which doles out Proposition 203 money, could fund the Santa Ana Unified School District projects by fall, senior director of facilities Mike Vail said Monday.

The Oxnard Union High School District has been reimbursed by the state for the $8.9 million it spent to purchase a 53-acre parcel at the northeast end of the city where the district plans to build a seventh high school campus. Robert Brown, the district's business manager, said the district received the money last week from the state Allocation Board, which disburses funds for school building projects.

Despite competition from developer Donald Trump, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced Monday that it intends to go forward with plans to construct a high school on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel. District officials are scheduled to appear before the State Allocation Board in Sacramento on Wednesday to seek $120 million to begin construction of a 2,500-student school on the 24-acre site.

The Los Angeles School Board took another step Monday toward acquiring the Ambassador Hotel site from millionaire developer Donald Trump by voting to borrow $68 million--using "certificates of participation" that will be sold to investors. The district is locked in a battle with Trump over the land, where school officials want to build a high school to relieve overcrowding in other schools in the area. Trump wants to construct a 120-story office building on the site.

The Alhambra School District has won a partial victory in its quest for $1 million from the state to pay for environmental impact studies, property negotiations and relocation assistance for a high school site. The state Allocation Board, which distributes building funds to schools, awarded $44.6 million to Alhambra last spring for construction of a high school but omitted $1 million in site acquisition expenses. The Alhambra district appealed for additional money.

Your Dec. 7 editorial, "Money's There, Repairs Aren't," contending that Proposition BB progress is slow-paced, only describes the half of the glass that's empty rather than the other half that is already full. While some schoolchildren "dodge the rain pouring through leaky roofs," students and staff members at over 40 schools will have brand-new roofs overhead when they return from the holiday break, thanks to the bond measure. With the State Allocation Board recently giving the green light to acquire land for a new high school in South Gate, one would be hard-pressed to say "plans for new schools creep along."