LAUSD BOOTS 19 CONSULTANTS

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News/from Contra Costa Times | http://bit.ly/gJi4Tx

John Deasy looks at a fault line that runs through this room at Luther Burbank Junior High School. The room will be demolished. Deasy visited several schools his first official day as Superintendent of LAUSD. Mount Washington, CA 4-15-2011. (John McCoy/staff photographer)

04/22/2011 07:22:14 PM PDT - Continuing efforts to scale back a controversial practice, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy has terminated the contracts of 19 district construction consultants over the last four weeks, the Daily News has learned.

The 19 consultants, including project managers, office engineers and a graphic designer, were being paid amounts between $163,000 and $416,000 a year - in some cases surpassing Deasy's own annual salary of $275,000.

"I am responsible for managing how our dollars are spent and I intend to take that responsibility very seriously. ... We are scrutinizing every penny we have," Deasy said.

"I am very interested in seeing every dollar used to its maximum capacity and I am also interested in only hiring consultants when we do not have talent inside the district to do the work."

Deasy, who took over the district April 15 after Ramon Cortines retired, said while cutting costs influenced his decision to end the contracts, other factors were weighed.

For example one consultant, who was billing the district $368,000 annually, was working as a liaison for charter school operators with facilities needs.

Deasy said that job should be handled by a full-time district employee.

In other cases Deasy said consultants were being under-used for the amount of money they were billing the district while some were not "meeting my standards."

Starting in 2002, the district began hiring several thousand consultants to help complete a $20 billion voter-approved bond construction program.

Labor leaders, among others, have sharply criticized the practice, arguing that the consultants cost the district two or three times what regular employees would cost.

A 2009 LAUSD Inspector General audit echoed that sentiment, claiming that LAUSD could have saved $77 million in 2006-07 if it had reduced its use of consultants in the facilities division.

An audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel last year also found numerous problems with the consultant program, including: more than 200 instances where consultants hired others from their own firm, leading to potential conflicts; more than 80 instances where consultants were hired without any kind of screening panel; and four times in which a member of a district hiring panel stood to benefit financially by hiring a specific consultant because they had investments with that consulting firm.

Former Superintendent Cortines had requested the Greuel audit after facilities consultant Bassam Raslan was indicted on conflict-of-interest charges for allegedly using his district position to hire employees from a company he runs.

Starting in 2009 Cortines sharply curbed the use of consultants from a high of 1,277 in 2006-07 to around 300 today.

Kelly Schmader, LAUSD's interim Chief Facilities Executive, said the termination of these latest contracts, however, should not be seen as an "indictment on consultants."

"We would not have the successful program we have today if we hadn't had consultants, but wherever there is work to be done by district employees we are looking to do that."

Schmader replaced former facilities chief James Sohn, who resigned last month after being criticized for a shortage of inspectors and contracting irregularities.

Schmader explained that consultants cost the district more money because contracting firms, and sometimes sub-contractors, tack on overhead costs that have to be factored into the hourly billing rate of each worker.

Still Schmader said consultants can be hired much more quickly than district employees, giving the building program needed flexibility.

Some school board members applauded the latest reduction in consultants.

"If there is no compromise in quality, I think our district employees can serve the needs of our students as well or better than any high paid consultants," said school board member Steve Zimmer.

"This building program should be about serving kids, not about contractors getting rich."