Torrance Schools Cut Budget, Keep Bus Service

Torrance school board members eliminated $1.5 million from next year’s budget Tuesday night through a series of staff cuts and service reductions, but they backed off a proposal to end bus service after receiving a flood of telephone calls and letters in the past week from residents protesting the move.

The board had planned last week to cut nearly $2.9 million from the budget, including all daily bus service and more than 40 staff positions, in preparation for pending reductions in their $79-million budget based on Gov. George Deukmejian’s initial state budget proposal.

But instead they cut $1.5 million Tuesday night and reserved the right to cut more after the Legislature approves the state budget. They called the $2.9 million in cuts a worst-case scenario that the district would probably not experience.

The cuts included the elimination of 20 positions, some through attrition and others through dismissals. Funding for staff development for teachers was cut in half, and a restructuring of the reading and limited English proficiency programs eliminated seven, or about one-fourth, of the teaching positions.

“We tried to keep the cuts as far from the classroom as possible,” Supt. Edward Richardson said in a statement released Wednesday, “but with each succeeding round of cuts this became more difficult.”

In a process that board member Ann Gallagher likened to shopping, the board pored over Richardson’s list of 29 proposed reductions and added or deleted them from the list piecemeal.

“This has been a real tough evening,” Gallagher said. “It’s been a real tough week.”

Union representatives offered tempered criticism of the cuts during the meeting, but board members staved off most community opposition by agreeing to maintain bus service, and by keeping four high school English positions and instructional aides for elementary and middle school classrooms.

Bill Franchini, director of the Torrance Teachers Assn., praised board members.

“I think in a very negative situation, they acted very positively,” he said. “I think they made cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.”

Board members called all the cuts preliminary and said their work is not done until final budget numbers come in this summer from Sacramento. They urged residents to lobby legislators for increased funding for education.

“While the entire country is calling for upgrading of public schools, California is going backward financially,” Richardson said in the statement. “In the end, you get what you pay for, and the children in California are the victims.”

Other cuts approved by the board: a moratorium on all conference attendance this fiscal year and a 50% cut in the conference budget for next year, a 50% cut in elementary school study trips and an unspecified increase in charges for adult education courses.

An additional $375,000 was saved by agreeing to add teachers to schools in accordance with already-established teacher to staff ratios. Currently, the district sometimes adds additional teachers to schools in the spring when the class size is under board-established limits but growth is expected the next fall. District officials said strictly enforcing the board limits would increase class size slightly and increase combination classes in some schools, but they provided no estimates of the extent of the impact.

The board saved an additional $860,000 by cutting the following positions: seven remedial reading instructors, four custodians, four maintenance workers, one independent studies teacher, one computer programmer, 1 1/2 clerical workers, one child welfare and attendance office administrator, and at least one staff development teacher. The board also saved $88,000 by freezing eight unfilled positions until the end of the fiscal year.

Board members also agreed to reduce the number of substitute teachers needed to monitor a state-mandated writing test by requiring that students complete one essay instead of two.

The board also saved $45,000 by reducing health insurance costs, although it did not specify a change in the district insurance plan.

FUNDING CUTS FOR TORRANCE SCHOOLS

Elimination of 20 positions:

7 remedial reading teachers

4 custodians

4 maintenance workers

1 independent studies teacher

1 computer programmer

1 1/2 clerical workers

1 child welfare & attendance office administrator

1 staff development teacher

Moratorium on attending conferences

50% cut in conference budget

50% cut in elementary school trips

Fee increase for adult education courses

Enforcement of mandated teacher staff ratios

Freezing of 8 unfilled positions

Reduction in number of substitute teachers for monitoring tests

Reduction in health insurance costs