Schools: July 2007 Archives

Nearly three dozen of Los Angeles' most dangerous street crossings for schoolchildren have not yet received safety improvements even though the city has had funding for the work for years. Brandpn Lowrey in the Daily News.

While 33 crossings near schools have been identified as hazardous and targeted for upgrades since 2003, only one-third have even been scheduled for work, according to transportation officials.

The backlog comes even as the city has racked up at least $3.8 million in grants for the projects under a special program aimed at boosting security for children.

"What's more important than to make sure kids have safe entrance and egress to the place our kids are going every day, five days a week?" said Robert Fellmeth, founder of the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.

The Los Angeles Unified School District took another budget hit Thursday when California's controller said it must return $45 million it never should have claimed from the state. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Over four years, the district filed claims for and received $46.6 million in state money under the Pupil Promotion and Retention Program.

But state Controller John Chiang said an audit showed that $45.4 million of the claims was unjustified, and that the money must be returned.

"In essence, they got an interest-free loan from the taxpayers of California," Chiang said in an interview. "Obviously they need to clean up their procedures so they don't jeopardize the operations or their responsibility to provide kids with a world-class education.