"Lease/leaseback lends itself to quality work, and you're also able to pick the subcontractors" said Juan Garza, the Kings Canyon superintendent. "With the hard bid, you're stuck with the lowest bid and you wind up with a lot of change orders."

Since the district changed methods, Harris has been selected for every project in the district, Garza said.

But, unlike how Fresno Unified selects the general contractor under its version of lease/leaseback, Kings Canyon allows all contractors to compete. The district then takes the top three offers to its board of trustees, which makes the final decision after public presentations from contractors.

"Harris has won every time, but they've also had to up their game," Garza said. "It's not a given and they know that."

The district has Measure K, a $40 million bond, on the Nov. 6 ballot. Through Sept. 30, the committee backing the bond raised about $33,500 -- about half of which came from construction interests.

"One thing that's clearly said to donors is, 'Don't have any expectations that you're going to get a job with us,' " Garza said. "You have to compete. We want to be totally transparent."

But San Diego lawyer Kevin Carlin says that lease/leaseback is ripe with opportunity for political corruption. Carlin has filed suits on behalf of clients against no-bid construction contracts awarded by two Southern California school districts and says he has clients in Fresno who intend to challenge lease/lease back contracts in Fresno Unified.

"It's really just a sham to circumvent competitive bidding," Carlin said. "Any time a staff member or elected official picks and chooses between one bidder and another bidder, there arises an opportunity for influence.

"The way lease/leaseback is being implemented, there's a very strong correlation at all steps in the process of bonds passed, people elected and contracts awarded."

Last year, the Fresno Unified board, acting on the recommendation of staff, approved a pool of 14 contractors for lease/leaseback contracts. The selections were based on criteria such as experience, past performance, technical expertise and ability to work with local subcontractors.

Fresno-based Davis-Moreno Construction Inc. was ranked 14th overall, but was excluded from the final pool because the district sought a blend of companies with bonding capacity to fulfill small, medium and large contracts, said Karin Temple, the assistant superintendent who oversees construction management.

The exclusion angered Stephen Davis, president of the company. His firm, which has a bonding capacity of $49 million -- mid-range for Fresno Unified -- built the Clovis North Aquatic Complex, a competitively bid project, and helped renovate the Old Administration Building at Fresno City College. His company's letter portfolio includes praise for many projects, including participation in two large projects involving Merced Community College District.

Said Davis: "We don't give them money, we don't pander to politicians and now we've been frozen out."

Gray, the Selma-based contractor whose company made Fresno Unified's cut and received a lease/leaseback $4.23 million contract to build classrooms and a kindergarten building at Winchell Elementary, says the district's way of awarding contracts doesn't include enough competition.

"Lease/leaseback came about because of the district's desire to avoid contracts with contractors who had poor performance," Gray said. "I'm OK with the concept. Where it became problematic is when it developed into a pick-and-choose process."