La Canada School Cuts May Increase Class Sizes

The La Canada Unified School District may cut $568,000 from its proposed 1990-91 budget, a move that probably would eliminate several teaching positions and increase the number of students in classes, district officials said this week.

In addition to the cuts, the La Canada Flintridge Board of Education will have to raise $347,000 from alternate funding sources to balance next year’s budget.

For the first time Tuesday, the board considered the district staff’s $16-million spending package for the next fiscal year. It will review the proposal several times before it votes whether to approve it.

District officials and community leaders said Wednesday that such cutbacks are necessary to offset shortfalls in revenue from Proposition 98 funds and increases in employee salaries. La Canada teachers earlier this year won a 16% salary increase over the next two years.

The effects of such a cut could be severe. The proposed budget would cut $180,000 from kindergarten through sixth-grade funds and require $88,000 in increased revenues. It would cut $133,000 from seventh through 12th grades and require $79,000 in alternate funds. It would slash $255,000 in district services, such as personnel, and require the district to save $180,000 in maintenance and operations budgets, said Teri Stockman, the district’s director of physical services.

The proposal is expected to eliminate at least six full-time teaching positions and two part-time slots. It also is expected to increase average class size from 27.5 to 29 students in kindergarten through sixth grade and from 30 to 32 1/2 in grades 7-12, Stockman said.

The $347,000 needed in increased revenues may be provided by sources such as the La Canada Flintridge Educational Foundation, which raises money for local schools. The foundation, which mainly targets keeping class size down, is expected to give $295,000 to the district--an increase of $70,000 from last year, she said.

Meredith Reynolds, the foundation’s president, said the organization would continue to try to make up for the shortfalls, but warned that collecting even more money from residents for public education would not be easy.

“Granted, the state has a lot of fiscal problems,” Reynolds said. “But something has to give, because I don’t see how people can work much harder for the schools than the people work in La Canada. There has to be a limit.”