West Covina Schools Grit Teeth, Tighten Belts

When administrators revealed four months ago that the West Covina Unified School District would be $2.6 million in debt by the end of the fiscal year, members of the Board of Education were shocked. Why, they asked, had the district gone so far in debt without their knowledge? How could the district cover the shortfall without impairing the educational process?

Last week, board members received the answers to both questions. Armed with a consultant’s report that chronicled in painstaking detail alleged fiscal mismanagement, the board embarked on a recovery plan Wednesday night that portends lean times ahead, but spares the most vital educational programs.

The recovery plan, approved unanimously by the school board, calls for more than $3.1 million in spending cuts for the 1987-88 school year, with more than half coming out of the district’s personnel budget.

Including cuts made during the summer, the district will terminate 44 full-time non-teaching positions and reduce the hours or pay classifications of 66 other non-teachers.

Those displaced include counselors, librarians, remedial and bilingual instructional aides, office workers, custodians and one of the two instructors for the elementary school music program.

“I’ve been in education a number of years, but I’ve never had to face this type of reduction,” said Robert E. Read, the district’s director of personnel services. “It was very difficult for my people.”

Of all the cuts, the elimination of the music teaching position aroused the greatest opposition from parents, some of whom have formed a nonprofit organization to raise funds for the elementary school music program.

Parent Jay Munns asked the board on Wednesday to continue paying the salaries of both music instructors for one semester to give the group time to raise enough money to sponsor one of the two positions.

“Two instructors had a devil of a time handling instruction for all the students,” Munns said. “One teacher for nine schools is going to be impossible. I think you’ll really see teacher burnout.”

But although board members applauded the efforts of the parents’ group, they insisted the district could not afford to pay for two music instructors, even if only for a single semester.

Board members expressed regrets about the impact of the budget cuts on such popular programs, but said their top priority was keeping the district’s educational operations intact.

“When you have a problem you solve it the best way possible, and the best way possible is to make these cuts,” said school board President Kathleen Jones. “The decisions are tough, but this is a board that is able to make tough decisions. Yes, it will be hard, but the kids come first. I do believe the district is on the road to recovery.”

Before announcing the recovery plan at its meeting Wednesday night, the board received a road map for the district’s return to solvency in the form of a 73-page management review by Wilson Riles & Associates, a Sacramento-based consulting firm. The report pinpoints the reasons for the district’s deficit and recommends 58 ways for the administration to cut costs and boost revenues.

Emergency Fund

When the financial problems came to light in May, the district appealed to the state Legislature for funds to enable it to stay open for the remainder of the school year and tide it over during the emergency.

The Legislature authorized a $3.9-million emergency fund, of which $2.6 million has been earmarked to make up the deficit for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

But before the district can get back in the black, it will require still more state assistance to cover an anticipated deficit in the coming fiscal year, the report stated.

“Even after all the cuts you folks have made, you’re still ending up $700,000 short of a balanced budget,” said consultant Mel Powell in his presentation to the board.

Trims Recommended

“The law requires that you submit a balanced budget, so you have to choose: Cut even deeper into your educational programs or seek more monies out of the $3.9 million authorized by Senate Bill 75.”

The report calls on the district to reduce its expenditures during this fiscal year to $25.2 million, compared to last year’s budget-busting $28.4 million. For next year, it recommends that the district trim its budget to $24.1 million so it can begin showing a surplus and repaying its state loan.

Among the management review’s other findings:

Administrators should provide monthly budget reports to school board members to keep them abreast of the district’s financial status.

The district should reduce the teaching and administrative payroll by encouraging early retirement and by not replacing employees lost through attrition.

Ratios of students to teachers and counselors should be increased to reflect those of other districts.

The district should not enter into multi-year contracts with teachers and other employees and should try to “honorably avoid” giving salary increases for which it is already committed.

The cost of computer data processing, which exceeded $1.3 million last year, should be carefully monitored and restricted to $270,000 a year or less.

Since enrollment has decreased from 14,000 to 8,000 since 1966, the district should consider closing at least one school, something it has not done for 10 years.

Despite the critical nature of the management review, board members said they appreciated the guidance.

“We’re sorry that we had to undertake a management report,” Jones said, “but we’re pleased with the thoroughness of the report, and its recommendations will be implemented.”

Impressed With Response

Powell said he was impressed with the positive response the management team received from West Covina school officials.

Administrators “can sometimes be defensive, but the people here truly had a problem-solving tone,” Powell said. “We asked the board members some tough questions. We asked all of them if they were ready to bite the bullet. . . . It’s one thing for us to recommend it; it’s another for them to implement it.”

One of the most challenging recommendations for the board to enact may be those relating to contract negotiations. In his presentation, Powell told the board, “We would be remiss if we did not mention that the single biggest reason you have this deficit is multi-year contracts.”

The idea of eliminating multi-year contracts for teachers did not sit well with Betty Joyce, a former president of the West Covina Teachers Assn., who said the move could precipitate a teachers’ strike.

“We have always given long-term contracts to our administrators, so if we’re going to hire our employees one year at a time, maybe we should hire all our administrators one year at a time and we could all scream and holler at each other about salaries and fringe benefits,” she said.

Confident of Resolution

Jones said she was proud of the way the board has handled the deficit problem, adding she was confident the board and the administration would be able to resolve any disputes that might arise because of budget cuts.

“This is a crisis, and in a crisis people pull together and work for solutions,” she said. “This has truly been a growth experience. It’s been an opportunity to see people work under stress and see the board grow and nurture. The whole process has been fascinating to watch (but) I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else.”

By announcing its recovery plan and receiving the consultants’ management review, the Board of Education has satisfied the last of four requirements mandated by state education officials as conditions of the emergency loan received by the district.

The district satisfied the other two state directives by undergoing an independent audit in May and placing its financial operations under the purview of a state-appointed trustee last month.