School District to Delay Relocation of Teachers : Jobs: Supt. Anton’s decision could cost $2 million. Parents, students and union officials fought transfer of 100 instructors with uncrowded classes.

Reacting to protests from parents, students and teachers union representatives, Los Angeles schools Supt. Bill Anton agreed Monday to delay until February an order removing 100 teachers from classrooms with fewer students than expected.

The decision could cost the financially strapped Los Angeles Unified School District up to $2 million in state funds, which are distributed on the basis of enrollment and earmarked to help pay teacher salaries. District officials had planned to move the teachers as needed to save the cost of hiring additional substitutes.

The problem arose because school officials overestimated the number of students to be bused from crowded inner-city neighborhoods to more than 50 schools, mostly in the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.

Anton said he will delay all but a handful of the teacher transfers to ensure the “continuity of the educational program.”

From three to five teachers will be removed before February because they have classes with only 10 or 12 students, he said.

Anton also told school board members at a meeting Monday that he will determine who is responsible for hiring more teachers than needed.

School board President Jackie Goldberg said mistakes by district officials caused the miscalculation and agreed with Anton’s decision, which did not require board approval.

West Valley board member Julie Korenstein said she wants “to get to the bottom of this. This must never happen again.”

District officials last week ordered 100 teachers not to report to work Monday because they had lower than average numbers of students in their classes.

The unexpected order drew protests from parents and teachers union representatives who said the change was upsetting to children, who have been in school for about two months. Normally, teacher assignments are adjusted after the first month of school.

The teachers were told they would be used as substitutes or assigned to other schools. Under their contract with the district, the teachers are guaranteed their full salary through June, whether they work or not.

Helen Bernstein, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, said she met with district officials early Monday to forge a compromise. The union’s main demand was to delay any moves until February, when the next semester begins.

Allowing the teachers to remain in their classes until then will cause fewer disruptions to students, Bernstein said. She had threatened to file 100 grievances on behalf of the teachers if the district made the transfers this week.

Anton’s decision shows “he is open to dealing with the union as an equal partner,” said UTLA spokeswoman Catherine Carey.

Enrollment in the district has increased by 15,000, to about 625,000 students. But slower than expected growth since school opened means the district cannot afford the 100 teachers, officials said.

Deputy Supt. Sidney A. Thompson said that last year, scores of parents complained about a shortage of teachers at schools that received the bused students.

“We’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Thompson, referring to the difficulty of accurately predicting the number of students who will enroll in the district or move from one part of the city to another.

Thompson said he believes that by June the district will need 300 of the 414 teachers hired this year to accommodate the bused students. He conceded that fewer teachers may be needed if enrollment continues at a slow pace during the winter.

The error will compound the district’s mounting financial woes, Goldberg said. The district made $200 million in cuts this year and faces an additional $125 million in cuts next year, she said.

“The question remains, ‘What is the cost going to be for students in the classroom?’ ” Goldberg said.

Word of the transfers spread quickly, beginning Thursday when many of the teachers were notified. By Friday, parents had staged protests outside their schools and many students left their classrooms in tears.

After receiving a flood of telephone calls from parents, district officials late Friday rescinded the order until Monday.