L.A. School Board Cuts $113 Million--as a Start

Struggling to keep budget cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, Los Angeles school board members voted Monday to slash more than $113 million--mostly by cutting administrative costs and borrowing from building funds--from next year’s spending plan.

Still, facing a deficit that may exceed $200 million next year, the board must come back in the next few months to lop about $85 million more from its $3.9-billion budget.

“I knew this day of reckoning would come. And here it is,” said board member Roberta Weintraub. “I don’t like any of these cuts. They are very difficult.”

More than half of the cuts--$75.4 million--represent one-time savings, meaning the district will have to find ways to make up for those funds in the following year.

The next-heaviest cuts came from the district’s central and region administrative offices, where almost $33 million will be slashed, mostly through personnel reductions. Los Angeles Unified School District officials will report back in a month with a breakdown of positions recommended for elimination.

“What good is a raise (24% over three years) for the teachers of the district when all these support positions are going to be removed?” complained board member Rita Walters, who was the only one to vote against all cuts.

The panel voted to hold off on more than $11 million in recommended cuts that would have eliminated 98 teaching positions, increased the size of some classes that include special-education students and eliminated individual-school allotments of funds the district receives from the state lottery.

The district receives about $100 million from lottery proceeds and spends about 80% of that for employee salaries and benefits. The amount of lottery money going to individual schools has been reduced each year, from $20 per student in 1986 to $5.05 now.

District officials had expected to have to make heavy budget cuts this year, in part because of employee pay raises.

That need was compounded when Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget, unveiled last January, cut the expected cost-of-living increase to schools, resulting in about $50 million less than the district had expected. The Los Angeles school district receives nearly three-quarters of its revenue from the state. When the state adopts its own final budget this summer, the district may be forced to make even more cuts.