Community Colleges Miss Deadline to File for Funds : Education: After failing to apply for federal grants because of a ‘screw-up,’ the district will have to use its own money to continue citizenship training classes.

The Los Angeles Community College District failed to apply for federal funds to continue training immigrants for citizenship exams because of what Board of Trustees President Kelly Candaele described as “a screw-up.”

Candaele said Tuesday that district officials missed the May 28 deadline to file for renewal of the funds, and will now have to fill the gap using the district’s own money despite tight college budgets.

The district serves about 4,000 students a year in classes and programs that help immigrants improve their English, understand U.S. history and civics, and fill out applications in preparation for becoming U.S. citizens.

Federal grant money funneled through the state Department of Education has long provided about $1 million per year to fund a portion of these programs.

At Los Angeles City College, which has one of the district’s largest citizenship programs, President Mary Spangler said there has been a temporary reduction in the number of classes, but previous levels of offerings will soon be restored.

Despite the snafu, state Department of Education officials said that about the same number of people as last year will take citizenship classes in Los Angeles County. Adult schools, run through primary and secondary school districts, have been expanding offerings, they said.

The district’s failure to apply for funds has drawn criticism from state Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

Polanco sent a letter to Chancellor Marshall “Mark” Drummond on Sept. 10 saying that he was deeply concerned over the failure to apply for the funds. Polanco asked Drummond, who was not with the district when the mistake occurred, to meet with him to make sure action had been taken against those responsible.

There are several reasons the deadline was missed, but the main reason, district officials said, was that the employee in charge of filing the district’s application was moved to a new job at Mission College, and no one was assigned to take over the function.

The employee’s reassignment was part of a program of districtwide reforms aimed at decentralizing its bureaucracy, and giving the district’s nine colleges more responsibility for administrative functions.

“It was overlooked,” said John Clerx, senior director of instructional and student support services for the district, who oversaw the program at the time. “I’m partially to blame.”

But others in the district blamed the district’s leadership and the college presidents involved in decentralization. “It’s on all of our backs,” said Evelyn Wong, president of West Los Angeles College.

The Board of Trustees is seeking a report on what happened, said Candaele. Meanwhile, trustees will vote today on allocating $500,000 from reserves to help fill the gap.

Drummond said the district is working to correct the problem, and to ensure that it meets new federal guidelines to apply for the funds.

He said he aims to ensure that the decentralization process progresses more smoothly. “Instead of decentralizing because the word sounds good, we need to do it because it makes good business sense,” he said.

Similar things have happened before. Last year, the district jeopardized $4.7 million in state construction funds for Mission College because of a missed deadline. The district later successfully lobbied to have the funds reinstated.