School board OKs budget that adds benefits

A week after its controversial decision to extend healthcare benefits to thousands of part-time cafeteria workers, a split Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday approved more than $30 million in cost savings to afford the move.

In voting 4 to 3 to approve the Los Angeles Unified School District’s $6.2-billion budget for next year, the seven-member board adopted various proposals to fund benefits suggested by Supt. David L. Brewer. They come on top of about $95 million in previously discussed cutbacks that Brewer had persuaded the board were needed.

For the school year already underway, it will cost the district $30.4 million to provide healthcare benefits to the roughly 2,600 part-time cafeteria workers. They will move from three- to four-hour workdays -- the minimum to qualify for benefits. In the future, the cost will rise to at least $37 million to cover the entire school year.

To find the money in what officials said was a bare-bones budget, Brewer brought forth several cost-saving measures, including a hiring freeze in the district’s administrative offices. He also reduced the number of teachers administrators can hire to fill unexpected vacancies.

More than half of the money for added benefits in the current year will come from funds the district recouped after overestimating some of last year’s costs. Those savings, however, will not be available in future years, leaving Brewer to search for more cuts.

When the board approved the benefits for the cafeteria workers last week, Brewer said he was unsure where the money would come from.

Clearly perturbed Tuesday, board member Marlene Canter bluntly criticized the hectic horse-trading, which had to be completed to meet deadlines set by the state.

“We cannot really even articulate how this is going to impact kids,” she said during the meeting. “I just don’t think this is the way to create policy. . . . I am just not happy with this.”

Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who has pushed strongly for the new benefits, said the additional work hours were needed to improve what has been widely regarded as severely inefficient and overtaxed food services at schools.

“I understand we have other priorities, but I also understand that we need to balance all of our priorities,” she said after Canter lashed out. “I am proud of the decision we made. I think it is an important step forward.”

joel.rubin@latimes.com