School District Braces for Cuts of $3.8 Million : Education: Lower state funding and rising costs lead to predictions of a shortfall by 1991-92. This year, officials plan to reduce spending by $500,000 or dip into reserves.

Gov. George Deukmejian’s vetoes of state education funding and rising employee health costs may lead to reductions of $3.8 million in Glendale education spending during the next two years, district officials said this week.

The Glendale Unified School District Board of Education was somewhat prepared for the vetoes, having adopted a cautious preliminary budget in June. But members said they hoped for more state money to protect the district from the cuts it may have to make.

“We’re a very, very conservative district, and we always budget like that, so when it comes down to matters like this, we thank our lucky stars that we do it that way,” board President Sharon Beauchamp said. “But this was kind of a shock. I hope that legislators can reinstate as much of the cuts as possible.”

Officials will trim about $500,000 from the district’s 1990-91 budget of $103.5 million or dip into reserves and postpone the cuts until next year. An additional $3.3 million in cuts or reductions is projected for 1991-92.

District staff will not decide on what cuts to recommend until it examines the budget program by program, beginning in September. But one option is a $300,000 reduction in data processing, said David Kanthak, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services.

Kanthak and others predicted that they could minimize the effect of the cuts on classroom and student programs. Plans to install air-conditioning at six elementary schools scheduled to go year-round in July, 1991, and the addition of classrooms at several Glendale schools will be unaffected by the budget changes, they said.

Student enrollment is expected to grow by 3.7%, to about 25,000 students, this school year.

“We’re talking about something that is workable,” Kanthak said. “It will definitely affect people. It will definitely affect the schools. But it is manageable.”

Deukmejian vetoed about $480 million from the proposed education budget by reducing cost-of-living increases and moving Proposition 98 money into school reserve funds, where it can be used only for an emergency.

The Legislature had approved a 4.7% cost-of-living increase for schools, but Deukmejian reduced it to 3% and cut items such as California Assessment Program testing and driver’s training.

“The priority of the governor happens to be somewhere besides education and young people,” Beauchamp said. “He’s not leaving a very good legacy for Pete Wilson or Dianne Feinstein. He’s leaving a mess.”

The board, which was required to adopt a budget by the end of June, had projected a 3% cost-of-living increase and adopted a budget that was $9.5 million higher than the $94 million budgeted by the district for 1989-90. Initially, that budget included a $600,000 reduction in administrative spending for items such as supplies, but did not touch classroom programs or a 3% reserve, as mandated by the state.

But after adopting the budget, the district learned that a shortfall in state lottery and general funds would necessitate the additional $500,000 in cuts, Kanthak said.

A 7.2% salary increase for teachers in 1990-91 and an estimated $2-million increase in health-care costs are expected to force the district to make about $3.3 million in reductions in 1991-92. That means the district may have to modify employee benefit packages or curtail salary increases, Kanthak said.

A 4.7% cost-of-living increase most likely would have covered the shortfall from last year and substantially reduced cuts in 1991-92, he said.

The budget scenario caused concern among teachers’ union representatives, who will begin new contract negotiations with the district next summer.

“When you talk about, ‘Well, the options are no pay raise or a change in the benefits,’ that’s telling teachers they’re going to balance the budget,” said Mark Desetti, president of the Glendale Teachers Assn. “I think it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen. A lot could happen in a year.”

For the next school year, district officials either will trim $500,000 or postpone the cuts until next year by dipping into a 3% reserve. But because that reserve level is mandated by the state, such a move would merely postpone reductions in the district budget until 1991-92, Kanthak said.

In addition, students ready to obtain driver’s licenses may have to take driver’s training through private companies if the district cannot foot the $195,000 cost of its program, Kanthak said.

The district’s budget has grown substantially in recent years. Student enrollment has increased 22% since 1985, with 24,400 students now enrolled and projections for as many as 28,300 by 1992. Most newcomers are immigrants or refugees who must go through costly special programs to learn English and other skills, Kanthak said.