Board Won’t Change Its Tune on Cuts

Despite pleas from supporters of elementary-school music instruction, help for students learning English and race relations courses who packed a San Diego city school board meeting Monday, trustees reluctantly held firm on the estimated $10.5 million in cuts targeted for next year’s budget.

Although another hearing is set for 4 p.m. today--at which more than 90 students and parents have already signed up to speak--the board does not appear likely to change the reductions and program eliminations that its top administrators have identified.

“I realize that we have pitted programs against each other,” Trustee Susan Davis said in response to angry criticism from speakers who marched to the podium one after another for almost three hours. “But (we have) an impossible choice.”

Supporters of continued full funding for music, language and race relations programs took a page from those who had crammed the board chambers last week and argued successfully for retention of minor sports activities and a substantial restoration of funds for the gifted and talented education program.

But they proved unable to budge the board, whose moves last week had forced the administrative staff to slash more than $1 million in new areas to compensate for continued sports and gifted education (GATE).

“We are all getting pitted against one another, which is destructive to all the progress we have made for all children,” cried Susan Chavez, president of the district’s Mexican-American advisory committee. “The cuts should be made equitable across the board.”

Chavez added angrily: “The GATE restoration . . . set (resentment) off in everyone’s gut.”

Arthur Ellis, speaking against a small reduction in the staff that teaches human relations, said the corridor outside the chamber had an atmosphere “of competitiveness, a real cutthroat kind of competition . . . of crabs in a barrel, of one program surviving only at the demise of another.”

Many band students from Patrick Henry, Serra and Madison high schools gave an impromptu concert on the lawn outside. Patrick Henry band leader Warren Torns said that elimination of instrumental music instruction at elementary schools would choke off future talent for high school marching bands.

But while a few of the 11 music teacher positions scheduled to be cut might still be saved, the board held out little hope for the program, and gave Supt. Tom Payzant no direction to look for alternatives.

“The pot that we have is only so large and someone has to make the decisions,” Trustee Jim Roache said. “And that is this board.”

The 116,000-pupil school district finds itself $10.5 million short of the money it needs to continue present funding levels of programs for next year, a result of almost no increase in state funding for education projected under Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget. The proposed cuts would affect language, textbooks, libraries, gifted education and major support services for teachers in a wide variety of areas, but would spare direct classroom instruction in almost all cases.

Because of the restorations made last week, Payzant came forward Monday with additional reductions in other areas totaling $1 million. Almost half that amount resulted from trimming the district’s reserve by $544,000.

After the meeting, Payzant held out some hope that the state Legislature might increase funding--perhaps after extensive lobbying from Payzant and other superintendents statewide--but that the amount of any additional funds might not be known until early summer.

The budget cuts could result in the elimination of as many as 217 jobs.