SIMI VALLEY : School Board OKs $8 Million in Cuts

Despite pleas from parents, students and teachers to restore funding for certain extracurricular programs, Simi Valley school officials have approved a $73.7-million budget after cutting $8 million.

To balance the budget, the district laid off 32 temporary teachers and 28 clerical and service employees, including five nurses, and made other program cuts. The district had to use $4.1 million of its reserve funds, Supt. John Duncan said.

The budget is based on a 3% cost-of-living increase from the state, although the number could increase when the state passes its budget this summer, district officials said.

“We’re making our estimates based on the state’s budget, and this year is a pretty gloomy year,” said Helen Beebe, Board of Education president. “If we get a higher raise, we’re going to look at restoring some of the positions that were cut.”

Several parents, students and teachers urged the board to restore about $60,000 in funding for speech and debate and work experience programs. The board did not restore funding for them.

Others picketed the meeting to protest a proposal by Duncan to increase the salaries of the district’s top four administrators, including his own. Duncan’s salary would increase from $96,517 to $97,000. Salaries for associate superintendents Al Jacobs and Cathi Vogel would be raised from $79,252 and $78,917, respectively, to $80,000, and Assistant Supt. Mary Beth Wolford’s pay would increase from $74,273 to $75,000.

In addition, the administrators’ contracts would begin in January instead of June to correspond with the district’s fiscal year. They would receive the same cost-of-living increase that is approved in the upcoming state budget, Duncan said.

“It’s not the idea of a raise that is the problem here tonight, it is the timing of the raises,” said foreign language teacher Peggie Noisette, one of 150 in attendance.

Board members postponed voting on the issue, saying they would review the matter and possibly reconsider it after the state’s budget is finalized. Board member Diane Collins objected to reconsidering the proposal, calling it “an outright bonus.”

Also, the board approved an adjusted salary schedule for teachers, correcting a clerical error that resulted in a $350,000 overpayment to the district’s 750 teachers last year. The scale for beginning teachers will be reduced from $20,863 to $20,643 a year, and the top scale from $46,689 to $46,197.

Union and district officials agreed that the money will be repaid by payroll deductions of between $200 to $400 per teacher for 10 months beginning in September.