School Board Asks L.A. for Share of Redevelopment Tax Money

The Los Angeles Board of Education asked the city Monday to share its redevelopment funds with the school district to finance expansion and construction of schools in crowded areas, including North Hollywood.

The proposal, authored by board member Larry Gonzalez, seeks to tap some of the tax revenues generated in commercial redevelopment zones. When a zone is created, the redevelopment agency secures for itself all increases in property taxes that result from building improvements, rather than sharing the funds with other taxing agencies, such as the county.

Gonzalez said other cities have entered into similar agreements with their school districts, and that he hopes the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency will follow suit. The school board unanimously supported his proposal.

“We cannot continue to have the CRA literally ignoring the future of the city, which is children,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “Schools have to be part and parcel to any decisions regarding the future of the city.”

The school board has asked the city to look at 10 schools that lie in redevelopment zones to determine if tax increment money could be used for expansion or construction.

One of those sites is Lankershim Elementary School in North Hollywood, just two blocks from Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards--the heart of the community’s redevelopment zone, where several high-rise buildings are planned. Enrollment at the school is expected to reach a capacity 598 next fall, district officials said.

Although other schools in the northeast San Fernando Valley are experiencing more severe crowding, Lankershim is the only Valley school inside a redevelopment area and, therefore, the only one that would be eligible for the program.

Under the district’s proposal, Lankershim school would be sold to a commercial developer and the proceeds of the sale, plus tax monies from the CRA, would be used to build two schools elsewhere in the North Hollywood redevelopment zone.

An initial study by the CRA, however, concluded that the agency has neither the funds nor the available space to build two schools in North Hollywood.

Gonzalez said the school district’s proposals are meant to serve as a “first step,” and that the two agencies will continue negotiating to determine which proposals are feasible.

“I anticipated a very cautious reaction on the part of the CRA,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not easy for one public agency to distribute their money to another public agency.

“But if there’s a will, there’s a way.”