Schools, Colleges Wrestle With Ways to Spend $15 Million in Lottery Funds

The first distribution from the state Lottery has pumped more than $15.8 million into the coffers of 17 school districts, four colleges and one university in the Southeast-Long Beach area, setting off a scramble over how the funds should be spent.

Districts are now wrestling with what to do with this extra cash; they must try to balance competing interests and decide whether the funds should be used for such things as teachers’ salaries, textbooks, computers, furniture, drapes, more air conditioning, increased security, high-speed copying machines and other supplies, or to balance the budget.

Many districts have prepared “shopping lists” or formed committees to study the issue, while others plan public hearings to draw up their priority lists.

The money was deposited in the county treasury Feb. 3 for each district. Amounting to $50.68 per student statewide, it is based on the average daily school attendance and is for Lottery tickets sold in October, November and December--the California Lottery’s first fiscal quarter, said Bruce Zentil, director of school financial services, Los Angeles County Office of Education.

The Lottery proposition, voters approved in November, 1984, required that at least 34% of the receipts go to public schools, community colleges and state universities. The only restrictions are that the money not be spent on research, land purchases or construction of new schools, Zentil said.

Up to Each District

Just where the money is spent is left up to each district.

There have been involved, sometimes difficult, talks over how to divide the extra money.

Some districts have agreed that the money should be thought of as separate from general school funds, and therefore spent only for special needs that otherwise would not be funded. Some officials are afraid to become dependent on the lottery cash, worried that the money won’t always be there.

Many teachers unions have pushed for a share of lottery money to boost pay, but State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig has warned districts to be cautious in spending the money for salaries.

“Teacher salaries are important. But districts must be cautious and not drop it all into salaries. The next time, (the allocation) might not be as high. Then you’ll be left holding the bag,” Honig said in a telephone interview from Sacramento.

“Some districts have tried a variety of ways, giving one-time bonuses,” Honig said.

The largest Lottery revenue winner in the Southeast-Long Beach area is Long Beach Unified School District. The district, which has 64,000 students, received almost $3.15 million.

If the allotment continued at this rate for the entire year, it would amount to just under $12.6 million, or nearly a 5% bonus to the district’s $257-million budget.

The Long Beach district, which has been negotiating with the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach on a contract for nine months, has agreed that the teachers will share some of the lottery revenue.

The district has tentatively agreed to give the 2,800 teachers 1% of its Lottery share, said a spokesman for the district. The 1%--about $30,000--would amount to about $11 a teacher.

“That 1% is a lump-sum payment,” said Dick Van Der Laan, district director of public and employee information.

Agreed to Lump Sum

The union has tentatively agreed to the 1% payment but the two sides have not reached a settlement on the entire contract, said Don Goddard, president of the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach.

In addition to the teacher share, the board of education has set other tentative guidelines, Van Der Laan said. It would devote about one-third of the remaining money to renovating science labs and about one-third would go to individual school sites.

“Nothing has been finalized but parents and teachers will be meeting to decide how they will use the money at each site,” Van Der Laan said.

Other districts grappling over whether to spend the revenue on teacher salaries include the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District and the Downey Unified School District.

Downey Unified has been given $722,591. Norwalk-La Mirada received $988,745.

Share of Annual Budget

The annual budget for the Downey Unified School District is about $43 million. If the allotment continued for the entire year at the same rate, it would amount to a 6.7% bonus for the district.

The Norwalk-La Mirada district’s annual budget of $61 million would receive about a 6.48% boost if Lottery contributions remained constant.

Supt. Manuel Gallegos of the Downey Unified School District said he does not believe the money should be used for teachers’ salaries.

“It is my personal feeling that this is one-time money. We are not sure what will happen next year or from now on.

“We should use this money for critical needs. Salaries should come from the general fund,” Gallegos said.

The district is proposing that an estimated $650,000 go toward school equipment, including office equipment, typewriters, desks for students, cabinets and equipment for science labs, Gallegos said.

Richard A. Ruether, executive director of the Downey and the Norwalk-La Mirada teachers’ unions, disagrees. “We clearly believe the Lottery money is bargainable and we will bargain for it,” Ruether said.

Go to Salaries, Training

Ruether has proposed that most of the Lottery money received by both districts go toward boosting teachers’ salaries and teacher training.

Ruether’s proposals include a 2.5% across-the-board salary increase for Downey teachers, which would cost an estimated $642,000.

The union is also asking that whatever is left over after raises be used for “in-service training” for all teachers.

Bruce C. Newlin, superintendent of the Norwalk-La Mirada district, said that the teachers’ union proposals along with others, including classified employees and administrators, will be considered.

Newlin said he expects that a list will be presented to the district’s Board of Trustees at its Feb. 24 meeting.

“It will take a while to sort out. It is hoped whatever is done is in the best interest of the school district’s students,” Newlin said.

At Compton College, faculty and staff salaries stand a chance of getting a share of the $141,000 in Lottery funds, said President Edison O. Jackson.

Raises Delayed

“Salaries are a major concern for us because we have not been able to give our faculty and classified staff a raise for several years,” said Jackson.

College officials are currently in contract negotiations with unions representing both employee groups.

In contrast with other districts, the Paramount Unified School District and the teachers union there decided during this year’s negotiations not to use the money for teachers’ salaries.

The teachers and the district have agreed “in concept” to a three-year contract with the teachers receiving an $8.25% salary hike, Supt. Richard B. Caldwell said.

Both groups are still working out the final language of the contract.

“The Lottery money will be used only for instructional purposes. We (teachers and the district) decided no Lottery money would be used for salaries,” Caldwell said.

Committee to Prepare List

Paramount, which received $546,276, has established a Lottery Fund Expenditure Committee to prepare a “shopping list” of the needs of the district, Caldwell said.

The committee, which is composed of two board members, two administrators, two teachers from the teachers’ union and two non-teaching employees, “will probably come up with a list of 1,000 items,” Caldwell said.

The group should be meeting around March 1 and be ready to submit recommendations to the Board of Trustees by May 1, Caldwell said.

The Little Lake City School District and its teacher union also agreed not to make Lottery money part of this year’s salary negotiations, said Supt. John Pulice.

“The teacher’s contract was resolved for the 1985-86 year; the teachers got a 5% increase,” Pulice said.

Portion to Each School

The district, which received $198,867, has agreed to give each of its nine kindergarten through eighth-grade schools a portion of the money based on the schools’ average daily attendance, said school board President Sara Mendez.

A number of school districts will be holding public hearings to decide how Lottery allocations will be spent. Many districts have asked for community, teacher and parent suggestions in spending the money. Most are asking that suggestions be submitted to the respective boards of education that will establish priorities.

ABC Unified School District, which received $1.2 million, has scheduled a public hearing for March 10.

The Montebello Unified School District Board of Education has already received a list of 50 items that were complied by administrators and teachers, said Supt. John P. Cook.

Air Conditioning Sought

The list, which is in no order of priority, Cook said, asked that the money be used to air-condition some classrooms, purchase additional computers, hire additional reading teachers and restore two assistant principal positions cut four years ago due to budget reductions. Montebello received $1.6 million in Lottery revenues.

Compton Unified School District Supt. Ted D. Kimbrough said that a variety of school organizations--from the PTA to the unions--will be sent a letter listing about 40 pressing problems that face the 28,000-student district.

“(The process) will conclude with a public hearing,” Kimbrough said.

Following the hearing, the school board will make a final decision on how the $1.4 million in Lottery funds will be spent.

Kimbrough said that he will recommend pumping some of the money into existing accounts to bolster the district’s meager reserve, which is currently running at 1% of the total budget.

“Gigantic” Problems

Beyond that, Kimbrough said, “Our maintenance problems are gigantic. Our teachers are still underpaid. Our classroom sizes are too large.”

While no single infusion of cash can solve any one of the problems, Kimbrough said, the Lottery money at least “kind of relieves a little pressure and makes us feel there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

The windfall “can’t help but help,” said Kelvin D. Filer, president of the district’s Board of Trustees.

Filer said that his only concern is that the money might promote “a public perception that the school district is suddenly rich,” which it is not.

The $1.4 million amounts to slightly more than 1.4% of the district’s annual budget.

If the Lottery funding continued at the same rate for the entire year, the district’s budget, which is about $100 million annually, would receive a boost of nearly 6%.

THE LOTTERY PAYS OFF Lottery funds allocated for education were received this month by area school districts, community colleges and California State University, Long Beach. The money is allotted according to average daily attendance figures, with each district receiving $50.68 per child from lottery revenues taken in during the last quarter of 1985. Districts and schools are listed in descending order of money received.

Educational Organization Funds Received Long Beach Unified School District $3,149,744 Montebello Unified School District 1,656,720 Compton Unified School District 1,412,433 ABC Unified School District 1,244,876 Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District 998,745 California State University, Long Beach 819,555 Long Beach City College 751,529 Downey Unified School District 722,591 Lynwood Unified School District 656,251 Cerritos Unified School District 614,288 El Rancho Unified School District 551,952 Paramount Unified School District 546,276 Whittier Union High School District 529,552 Bellflower Unified School District 488,349 Rio Hondo Community College 381,314 East Whittier City School District 312,541 Whittier City School District 273,923 Little Lake City School District 198,867 South Whittier School District 164,861 Compton Community College 141,193 Lowell Joint School District 117,678 Los Nietos School District 90,057

Data is from the Los Angeles County Office of Education