$125 Million in Cuts Recommended for School District : Education: Officials suggest ways to reduce deficit that could reach $200 million. Board will vote next Monday.

Facing a deficit that could reach $200 million, Los Angeles Unified School District officials Monday recommended ways to slash nearly $125 million from next year’s budget.

The Board of Education will vote next Monday on the proposed cuts, which include $26.2 million, or 15%, from the district’s central administration.

Other proposed cuts for the next budget year, which begins July 1, include eliminating state lottery funds given to individual schools, channeling the money instead to the district’s general fund for a saving of $8 million.

Another proposal calls for saving $3.6 million by cutting 98 teachers and increasing the sizes of regular classes that include some special-education pupils.

Nearly half the proposed reductions--$75.4 million--represent one-time savings or revenue sources. That means the district will have to find new ways to make up for those funds in the following year, Robert Booker, chief business and financial officer, has told board members.

At least part of the district’s problem came with the unveiling of Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget last January, when the governor suggested a much lower “cost of living” raise in state funds to local school districts.

The $125 million in proposed cuts awaiting board action next week is just the first step toward balancing the district’s operating budget of close to $3 billion. Other cuts, if needed, will be made after the state revises its own budget in May, and again after the Legislature adopts the state budget this summer. The board will get the district’s proposed spending plan on June 18 and is required to adopt it by Sept. 15.

“This $125 million is what we’re going to have to cut, no matter what happens in Sacramento,” board President Jackie Goldberg said Monday.

She said she believes there is consensus on many proposals--but not on those to keep lottery money for the general fund and to increase class sizes.

Other proposed cost-saving measures include borrowing $25.8 million from construction funds, reducing the amount for deferred maintenance by almost $9 million and cutting physician services by $1.7 million.

Still other savings would come from slashing regional offices ($1.3 million) and suspending an employee assistance fund for one year ($683,000). The board, which is considering hiring a private consultant to review its administrative staffing and salaries, will not decide how to cut the 15% from central administration until at least mid-April, she said.