Troubled Inglewood schools face new financial woes

The troubled Inglewood school district has once again found itself facing severe financial uncertainty.

The school system was taken over by the state in September, when Gov. Jerry Brown approved legislation granting $55 million in loans for the district. But officials announced Tuesday that the district has depleted its reserves and used about half of those loans in the first year.

A review by the state has found that the 14,000-student district will end the current school year with a $17.7-million deficit. Without scaling back, the district will exhaust the remainder of the $55-million loan and other funds next year and will be unable to fund the school year in fall 2014.

“The situation is grim,” said Michelle Plumbtree, chief management analyst with the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.

But while Inglewood officials held a hearing Tuesday evening on its financial problems, the state released a report showing that school district budget crises have lifted in many other areas. State Supt. Tom Torlakson said that fewer than half as many California districts are in financial jeopardy now as a year ago. That number has dropped from 188 to 92 districts showing serious financial problems.

In Inglewood Unified, meanwhile, officials say budget problems were caused in part by a severe drop in enrollment at district schools. Enrollment has plummeted 28% in the last seven years as the proliferation of charter schools nearby has lured away students, officials said.

Officials expect to reduce the deficit by about $6.6 million through other means, but plan on entering into negotiations with employee unions in coming months.

“The employees are not responsible for the problems here, but they’re going to have to share in the solutions here because there’s no place else to go,” said Richard Zeiger, the California Department of Education chief deputy superintendent.

About 60 teachers received pink slips last year. About 170 classified employees — those who are not teachers or administrators — so far have been alerted that their jobs may be in jeopardy and more may be notified in coming months.

The district is currently offering early retirement to 300 employees — about 200 teachers and 100 classified and administrative positions — but have yet to get a clear picture as to how many will take the offer, said La Tanya Kirk-Carter, the interim state administrator of the district.

District officials are asking the teachers union to walk away from an agreement made with the previous state monitor, Kent Taylor, who resigned after the Department of Education learned of that tentative agreement. Taylor, state officials say, had no authority to make the deal.

The would-be agreement reduces the budget by less than $1 million, not nearly enough to stave off massive cuts to make the difference, Kirk-Carter said.

The union maintains that the agreement and a memorandum of understanding were negotiated in good faith and that union officials were under the impression that Taylor had the authority to enter into them, said Peter Somberg, president of the Inglewood Teachers Assn. He said the union may bring an unfair labor charge against the district.

Kelly Iwamoto, a fourth-grade teacher at Kelso Elementary School, said that after receiving a pink slip for the third year in a row, she has become somewhat numb to the feeling of having her job on the line. But the fact that the district has seemingly not improved at managing funds angers her.

“Nothing has changed,” she said. “That’s what makes me mad.”

stephen.ceasar@latimes.com