San Diego

San Diego city school trustees Wednesday approved a $473-million budget for the 1986-87 school year, a vote that they said marked the end of a three-year cycle of sharp budget increases.

This year’s budget is up 12.2%--about $50 million--over last year’s. But trustees are preparing for much leaner times in 1987-88, when generous state and federal spending increases that accompanied the national education reform movement are expected to end. The boost in this year’s budget comes after a 9.5% increase last year and an 11.9% increase the previous year.

District Controller Ron Oakes said trustees should expect much smaller budget increases in state and federal programs for 1987-88, and might receive less than the $17 million in California Lottery revenue that is part of this year’s budget.

Oakes estimated that the district will receive a 2.5% cost of living increase from the state next year, much less than this year’s 5.5% increase.

As the state approaches the spending limit imposed by the Gann initiative approved by voters in 1979, spending increases could be further curtailed, budget officials have said.

Big increases in this year’s budget include $24.7 million for salaries, $17.6 million of it for teachers’ salaries; $2.2 million for instructional materials; $2.07 million for special education programs, and $2.06 million for a program to reduce overcrowding in classrooms.

A $1-million cut was made in the district’s contingency fund, bringing it for the first time in recent memory to zero, and $200,000 was taken out of a discretionary fund spent by four of the district’s assistant superintendents. Principals’ discretionary funds were also reduced from $37 per student to $10 per student.

As part of Wednesday’s vote, the trustees directed staff members to find $49,000 in the budget to fund two reading teacher positions that were eliminated during earlier budget deliberations.