$34 Million Los Angeles School Sits Vacant and Vandalized Since 2021

In 2003, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) had 703,000 students. "The district had been running year-round schedules, with the school year shortened by nearly a month, to accommodate its burgeoning student population," reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Over the last 23 years, district enrollment has declined by more than 50%. When it became obvious that enrollment had passed its peak, the LAUSD canceled 18 construction projects for new schools in 2007.

But one of those projects, zombie-like, came back from the dead. A charter school, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, won approval from the school board to build a school at 1215 Miramar Avenue. The state had already earmarked the funds for a charter school, so LAUSD gave the project the green light.

"The school was paid for with a combination of state funds, district funds, and a state loan the charter would have to repay," reports The Times. "The district’s facility division acquired the land and managed the construction, which began in 2011, with the Camino Nuevo charter school opening in 2013."   

At the time, the LAUSD school board was all for charter schools. It helped relieve some of the overcrowding in the district and didn't appear to threaten enrollment.

All that changed as the decades rolled by. Camino Nuevo closed the campus in 2021 and left behind an $8 million construction debt that any new tenant must pay.

“Ultimately, the campus was too far away” from the other Camino Nuevo schools, said Ana Ponce, head of Camino Nuevo at the time. “Those students found alternatives, predominantly other charter high schools, that were closer to our middle school campuses.”

So a beautiful campus built to accommodate 500 students never saw more than half that number, then closed its doors. In debt and facing a now-hostile school board, other charters are reluctant to take possession.

LAUSD spent $34 million in taxpayer dollars to build a campus that’s been empty since 2021. The vacant school gets frequently vandalized so LAUSD has to spend $20,000 per month of taxpayer dollars to keep the empty campus secure. Over $200,000 a year just for securing a vacant campus. Zero children are helped by this. LA City is a complete mess with just no leadership whatsoever.

— jonathanhatami (@jonathanhatami) October 27, 2026

For the last five years, vandals have punched holes in the walls, the floors, and the ceilings, started fires, and broken pipes that have leaked water onto the floors. The district is paying $1 million a year for security and maintenance.

> Be LAUSD > Enrollment collapsing > Build a new $34 million public school anyway > It's empty, no students (unsurprisingly) > Pay $1 million last year to secure & maintain empty school > Pay $20,000 a month in security & maintenance https://t.co/MQMoDrpTFX

— skepticalifornia (@skepticaliblog) October 28, 2026

Los Angeles Times:

Since Camino Nuevo’s departure, one charter operator almost moved in but then backed out. A second charter operator was ready to go, but the district backed out of that deal in 2022, as then-Supt. Alberto Carvalho wanted to explore options for a district-run program.

“I had a big plan for it,” Carvalho said in a 2025 interview. “I envisioned really creating a one-of-a-kind school experience in that building, since it had been left open for a long period of time. … Use best practices and put them all under the same roof, such as a school without bells, with true teacher-led management and decision-making process. Think of community schools on steroids.”

The Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise (LAAAE) wanted to move in. But the district's hostility to charter schools was evident in the disqualifying conditions it set for LAAAE.

The district’s conditions include $750,000 “for prior operation and maintenance costs”; a monthly charge of more than $70,000 for the first three years; assumption of the state loan balance of $8,083,564, with estimated annual debt service of $457,783, according to L.A. Unified; and repairs for the vandalized building, which is being offered “as is,” Macias said.

A contractor has projected the cost of needed repairs at $1.86 million, according to a preliminary estimate reviewed by The Times.

The state is demanding that LAUSD make it available to a charter school because that was one of the bond's conditions. The district is making that as difficult as possible.

As a metaphor for failed school policies, Miramar isn't even at the top of the list. With just 60% of schools occupied, the district is going to be forced to close dozens of them, consolidate others, and plan for even smaller enrollment. Nevertheless, the LAUSD is pressing ahead with a multi-billion-dollar modernization and rebuilding plan, raising questions about investing in campuses that may soon be shuttered.

I guess that means there are going to be a lot more Miramar campuses attracting vandals and squatters as tenants. 

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