School District Tells How It Will Spend $9.5 Million From Lottery

San Diego city school officials plan to divide an anticipated $9.5 million in lottery funds among teacher salary bonuses, individual school needs and districtwide needs--spending about one-third of the funds on each category, Supt. Thomas Payzant told the Board of Education Tuesday.

With the first payment of about $5.5 million on its way from Sacramento and the rest expected in May, Payzant cautioned the school board not to “lose perspective” about the impact the funds will have this year. The $9.5 million--the maximum school officials expect to receive--is just 2% of the district’s $420-million budget for this year, Payzant said.

Under the plan, which will come before the school board for a vote Tuesday, school officials’ would pay teachers a 1.5% salary bonus, totaling $3 million.

But the bonus proposal has so far been rejected by the San Diego Teachers Assn. during current collective bargaining negotiations. The union wants lottery money incorporated in teachers’ regular salaries in the second and third year of a contract.

SDTA President Gail Boyle Tuesday called the bonus proposal “an attempt to buy off teachers” and said that the $5.5-million lottery revenue from first quarter sales showed that the district could easily afford to add lottery money to teachers’ salaries.

In the third year of the contract, the union proposal would cost the district $6 million a year, Boyle said. “We don’t think the lottery money will ever drop below $6 million. Not if they can get $5.5 million in one quarter,” she said.

School officials have said they cannot lock the lottery money into the salary schedule because the revenue is unpredictable. Money from the February lottery payment will be put in reserve until contract negotiations are settled.

Another $3 million would be devoted to the needs of individual schools--supplies, texts, teacher training, and other needs. A committee of parents and teachers would be appointed to advise principals on how to spend the money, which will total $27 per student.

Under the plan, the money cannot be allocated to items that will require additional spending in the future, Payzant said.

The funds will come from the May lottery payment and will be spent at each school in May and June or carried over to next September, Payzant said.

The remainder of the lottery funds will be spent on districtwide needs, such as maintenance department vehicles or maps and globes, Payzant said. The funds will come from the February and May payments, he said.