Strained Schools Now Spell Relief L-O-T-T-E-R-Y

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, teachers and administrators are bickering over whether state lottery money should be used to raise teachers’ salaries. Newhall School District officials plan to establish additional training sessions for teachers. And the huge Los Angeles Unified School District may use its money to bus students from crowded schools to less-crowded schools.

With the first checks from proceeds of the California Lottery beginning to arrive at local school districts, deciding how to use the windfall may be causing some headaches, but the money is a welcome addition to strained budgets in most districts.

In the Simi Valley Unified School District, for example, Associate Supt. Harold Lipman said the $1.03 million the district will receive will go immediately into its contingency fund so the budget will remain balanced.

No Big Plans

“We don’t have any plans to buy frosting or any big-ticket items,” Lipman said. “I wish we could, but we’re a declining-enrollment district and the money will go for the basics.”

The Las Virgenes Unified School District is going to use its $384,659 on raises for district employees and curriculum workshops for staff members. In Burbank, school district officials said plans for their $594,017 include purchases of computers and mobile science laboratories.

Officials in the William S. Hart Union High School District said they haven’t decided what they will do with the $463,364 that the Santa Clarita Valley district will receive from the state.

The $927,540 that the Conejo Valley Unified School District will receive has become the center of a dispute between the district and the Unified Assn. of Conejo Teachers. Last month, teachers filed a complaint of unfair labor practices against the district because the lottery funds will not be included in the money pool used for salary increases.

Quarterly Lottery Checks

Lottery checks will become a quarterly occurrence for the state’s public schools and colleges. Allocation of the money is based on a district’s attendance, not on its need.

The only restrictions placed on spending the lottery proceeds are that they do not go for research, purchase of land or construction of buildings.

The last restriction has caused problems for the Los Angeles school district, which would like to use its lottery money to build schools to relieve crowding in some parts of the district.

But, with no other limits placed on the spending decisions, school board members have pulled out their wish list to find equipment, musical instruments and special training programs on which to spend the lottery money.

Reed Montgomery, superintendent of the Castaic Union School District, said teachers in his district have come up with several suggestions on how to spend the $23,160 the district will soon receive.

Some have suggested acquiring more personal computers for classroom and district use. Others would like to improve the district’s classroom instrumental program by purchasing autoharps, cymbals and rhythm sticks. Still others would like to see the district buy more books aimed at adolescents for the school library.

“We want to buy expensive things that we could not afford and may not be able to afford again,” Reed said.

LOTTERY PAYOUTS

Figures are for the first lottery allocations for Valley area schools

Burbank $594,017

Castaic 23,160

Conejo Valley 927,540

Hart Union 463,364

Los Virgenes 384,659

L.A. 30,500,000

Moorpark 212,850

Newhall 142,916

Pleasant Valley 52,808

Saugus 191,924

Simi Valley 1,033,460

Sources: Los Angeles and Ventura county treasurers.