Torrance School Budget Approved

The Torrance Unified School District Board of Education on Monday approved a final 1990-91 general fund budget of $79.9 million, which includes $1.5 million in cuts made by the board last week when it eliminated 39 jobs, froze two others, and demoted 12 employees primarily in maintenance and clerical posts.

“The feelings of the people I have talked to are all in favor of the furloughs and a freeze for one year on wages, in the interest of saving jobs,” Chris Kelly, a West High School maintenance mechanic, told the board members.

Board and union representatives have said that contract talks between the district and its two non-teaching unions will include discussion of furloughs as a way to eliminate or reduce the need for job cuts.

If agreement is reached on a furlough program, some of the layoffs could be rescinded, board President Owen Griffith said in an interview Tuesday.

The district last week sent out 30-day notices of layoffs to as many as 39 employees in two non-professional unions. No teachers have been affected by the layoffs.

The California School Employees Assn., which represents clerical and technical staff, brought up the furlough issue in negotiations last Thursday, unit President Louise Lavallee said. Members of her union appear to favor furloughs as long as they are spread out among all classified employees, she said.

The school budget last year was $78.7 million.