OCEANSIDE —— Inside the small staff kitchen at Ditmar Elementary School, things seem perfectly normal for any teachers' lounge. The floors are spotless. The countertops, one on each side, are clean. The microwaves are neatly lined up. Other appliances are tucked away.

But to district planners and architects trying to modernize the aging building in order to comply with federal laws concerning equal access for the disabled, there's much to be said about this picture.

The countertops on one side of the lounge are too low; the other countertops are too high. The door is not wide enough. The faucet and electrical outlets are too far from the edges of the counters. And the handles on the drawers are too narrow, all according to Brian Sullivan, the district's director for facilities and planning.

And none of the problems entail quick, cheap fixes, he said.

Roughly 40 percent of the estimated $23.9 million —— or about $9.5 million —— spent to modernizing the district's older campuses have been used to bring campuses in line with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Sullivan said.

That 15-year-old law, known more popularly as ADA, requires public places and private businesses to make accommodations for the disabled.

About half of the 22 campuses are more than 30 years old, built years before the ADA laws were enacted.

For schools, the law means ramps must be in place everywhere there is a staircase; water fountains need to be a certain height; desks must be provided for those in wheelchairs, and handicapped-accessible bathrooms have to be in place —— to name a few adjustments.

And recent changes to the law have cost the district more than expected, he said.

"It's gotten to the point where (the ADA requirements) are driving our modernizations," Sullivan said.

Incredibly shrinking bond money

The cost of bringing the district's older campuses up to date is just one example of the factors that have caused the district's bond money to disappear more rapidly than officials expected.

Officials said other issues have pushed construction costs skyward, including the rising costs of steel and other building materials, and relatively new state laws on environmental tests that are now required before the first shovel of dirt is overturned for a new school.

The problem now is that the district's $125 million bond —— which, along with state funding, is footing the bill for major reconstruction and new buildings across the district —— may not cover all of the projects the district promised voters when they approved the bond in 2000, officials said.

The district has already tapped into the bond for $72.4 million to pay for a new elementary school, construction and modernizations at eight schools, initial architect fees for modernization projects and new buildings at seven schools, and land purchases for another elementary school and a middle school.

The district has used roughly $41 million in state matching funds to help pay for those projects, as well.

Sullivan said that the problem is that once those schools and projects are completed, there will be little to no money left for the nine remaining projects, including modernizations at four elementary schools and a new performing arts center at Oceanside High School.

Superintendent Ken Noonan and other officials said they are pleased with the work at campuses that have been updated. He said, for example, that Laurel Elementary and Oceanside High —— both decades old —— are seemingly new campuses with new classrooms, bathrooms, offices and wheelchair-friendly walkways, ramps and wider doors.

But some of the changes are not as simple as applying a fresh coat of paint, according to an architect hired to work on modernizations at several elementary schools.

No simple changes

Pointing to a drawing of the side of one of the older classrooms at Ditmar Elementary school, scheduled for modernization in the next year, architect John Grove said the classroom's two doorways don't meet ADA requirements. They measure 32 inches wide, but must be 36 inches wide, he said. Because the thresholds are part of beams that support the roof, the roof will need to be remeasured, and possibly rebuilt, he said.

That's just one example of a seemingly simple change that could end up costing more, he said.

"It's not just a matter of simply cutting out part of the building, he said.

In addition, revisions made in 2002 to the ADA now require that schools adhere to universal accessibility —— meaning that wherever there is a staircase on campus, there needs to be a ramp alongside it, Sullivan said. And wherever there is a doorway, it must be 36 inches wide.

Universal access

The smooth paths and zig-zag ramps now in place at Oceanside High, which has already received more than $10 million in modernizations alone, are an example of the accommodations now available or in the works for the campuses.

In the past, schools could be in compliance with ADA if they had at least one ramp to help a disabled person. And previously, schools could comply with the law if at least one entrance to a classroom or building was 36 inches wide to accommodate wheelchairs. Now, all doorways must be widened, Sullivan said.

The countertops in Ditmar's staff lounge offer another example. Both must be a certain height to meet the newest ADA requirements, he said.

The recent ADA changes —— specifically, the 2002 universal access adjustment —— have helped drive the costs of modernizations well above what the district planned to spend when it drafted a facilities plan in the late 1990s.

That plan, presented to voters to sway them to approve the bond, included ADA adjustments to campuses. But the upgrades were not as extensive as the newest requirements demand, Sullivan said.

Contact staff writer Louise Esola at (760) 901-4151 or lesola@nctimes.com.