Special Meeting Tuesday on Torrance School Budget

More than 150 people crowded into Torrance Unified School District headquarters Monday night to hear how $2.9 million will be slashed from next year’s budget, but school board members postponed the decision, to allow more time to study the possible impacts.

Board members scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. to decide what programs, positions and services to cut from their $79-million budget. Proposals include ending daily school bus service and eliminating more than 40 jobs.

Officials from the Torrance Teachers Assn. urged the board not to cut programs but instead to save money next year by joining a state health care program that could provide benefits at a lower cost to the district.

In addition, the association proposed a retirement package that they said could entice up to 150 senior teachers to retire, freeing their jobs for lower-salaried starting instructors.

At the same meeting, however, the association presented its initial contract proposals, including a request for a 13.5% pay increase.

Association Executive Director Bill Franchini said the request was similar to initial proposals last year. Teachers ultimately received an 8% raise.

“We are asking for what we think is justified, but as we go along we will have to temper that with the ability of the board to pay,” he said. “It’s too early to tell what the condition of the district will be come July,” when the state’s final budget figures are adopted.

A dozen parents pleaded with the board not to stop the bus service, which they say was promised to them when their neighborhood schools were closed in recent years.

The district spends about $400,000 each year to provide a bus ride to school for any elementary or middle school student who lives more than 1 1/4 miles from school and for high school students who live more than two miles from their campus.

“We’ve been told letting them ride bicycles on these major streets isn’t safe, and we know letting them walk isn’t safe,” said Heidi Ashcraft, whose 9-year-old son had to move to Towers School after Carl Steele School closed. Ashcraft also complained that traffic congestion around Towers School in the mornings and afternoons approaches gridlock.

“If I can’t drive him and he can’t walk or ride, maybe home study is another option.”