Educators Fear Devastation From Cuts : Budgets: Reduced state funding may cost county schools $20 million next year. Districts have already tapped reserves and now face painful losses of personnel and programs.

Ventura County schools, dealt another blow last week by Gov. Pete Wilson’s new budget proposal, are facing their most serious financial crisis in 20 years, educators say.

Hundreds of teachers and other school employees from Ventura to Thousand Oaks may be out of work at the end of the school year.

Classrooms across the county, already full, may be even more crowded.

In the Ocean View district, kindergarten children who do not speak English may no longer get special help from a teacher who specializes in language development.

In Santa Paula, repair of the cracked tile in Isbell Middle School’s leaky roof will have to wait indefinitely.

In Oxnard’s elementary schools, more than 12,000 students will be served by only one staff nurse, and the music program may be eliminated.

The school districts are making such unprecedented cuts because their costs are rising, but they expect to get no cost-of-living increase from the state.

Last week, Wilson proposed a budget plan that would take another $110 million from public schools statewide, in addition to the $2 billion in cuts he proposed in January.

The cuts may cost Ventura County’s 20 school districts more than $20 million next school year.

And any reductions could be devastating since many districts have already dipped deep into their reserves. Seventeen of the county’s 20 school districts spent more money than they took in this school year, according to figures from the Ventura County superintendent of schools office.

Three districts--Santa Paula Elementary, Santa Paula Union High and Ocean View Elementary--had to work with the superintendent’s office to figure out ways to pay their bills.

At least one school district has proposed slashing salaries and benefits, and others may cut back on supplies as basic as pencils, paper and erasers.

The budget woes have sapped morale among teachers, many of whom feel the profession has already been battered by critics. Even President Bush earlier this month called on local communities to help “reinvent American education.”

“This is the worst of times to be in the teaching profession,” said science teacher Ray Sepulveda, a 25-year veteran at Santa Paula High, where four teachers were laid off last week.

“Right now, everybody’s scared,” said Sepulveda, head of the teachers union.

Dave Friend, a parent who worked on a Ventura Unified School District budget committee three years ago, said recently that the problems sound all too familiar. “It seems like the schools are always crying wolf,” he said.

But educators say that although schools have been struggling financially for years, this year is different. Most schools must give pay raises under contracts with their employees, but they may get no more money from the state.

“What makes it so tough this year is this is the first year when we’re going to get less than the year before,” said Supt. David Philips of the Santa Paula Elementary School District. “It’s essentially a 3% cut. How many people get their salaries frozen from one year to the next? This will be devastating.”

“This is my 21st year as county superintendent and this is the most dismal forecast we’ve had during that time,” said County Supt. James F. Cowan.

“Next year is going to be a real disaster for all of us,” said Assistant Supt. Leo Molitor of the Ojai Unified School District. “Next year, it’s going to be amputation, not cuts.”

There are a number of reasons for the bleak financial picture:

* Although Proposition 98, passed in 1988, guarantees schools about 41% of state tax revenues, a state measure passed in 1990 calls for schools to share the burden during low-revenue years. The 1991-92 estimated shortfall in the proposed $55.7-billion state budget is $12.6 billion.

* Since 1989, lottery money distributed to districts has plunged from about $170 per student to as little as $118 per student per year. The recent $118-million jackpot only increased revenues for this year to $123 per student, officials estimate. Ventura County’s districts, which have about 110,000 students, have lost about $5.2 million, or just over 1% of the county’s school budgets.

* This year, the county imposed fees totaling about $3 million against school districts for collecting property taxes. Local school districts and statewide education groups have joined to fight the fees, but in the meantime, most have set money aside in their budgets to pay them.

Although a change in any of those factors could brighten the financial outlook, county school officials aren’t counting on it. Instead, they are planning their budgets on worst-case scenarios.

“Over the years, people involved in education--particularly teachers--have been able to hang in there and do a very good job,” Cowan said. “How much longer they can do that, I don’t know.”

To offset shortfalls, many districts have had to draw heavily from their reserves.

In June, 1990, county schools had budgets totaling nearly $464 million and had nearly $37 million or 8% in reserves, according to the county superintendent’s office.

By the end of this school year, those reserves will have dwindled to an estimated $17 million, or less than 4%.

If drastic cuts are not made, many schools districts may sink even deeper into the financial hole next school year, administrators said. Reserves in some districts would disappear.

Even with the cuts, some districts hope for reserves of 1% at best.

The state recommends an emergency reserve of 3% to 5% for most school districts.

“It’s a reserve for economic uncertainties, and I don’t know what’s more uncertain than school economics in California,” said Molitor of the Ojai district, where last week the school board approved reducing reserves from 2.5%, or nearly $350,000, to 1%, or about $138,000.

If a district has no reserves and an emergency arises, it could go to the state for a loan. However, when the Richmond Unified School District in Northern California asked for a state loan in February, it was denied. The district, which faces a $29-million deficit, filed for bankruptcy last week and, unable to meet its payroll, will end the school year six weeks early.

Only three of Ventura County’s smallest districts--Briggs, Mupu and Somis Union, with a combined enrollment of about 750 students--will spend less than their incomes this year.

Officials said that is because those districts are small enough to exercise tight control over every aspect of their budgets. They have built up reserves over the years, and they do not have to bargain with teachers unions.

But other districts face grim prospects next school year.

* The Conejo Valley Unified District has a $6.4-million shortfall next year and must cut $3.9 million from its $70.7-million budget. The remainder of the shortfall will be made up by drawing from already depleted reserves. Between 100 and 130 employees may be laid off and the four-person curriculum department could be wiped out. It is uncertain whether high school students will be able to play sports such as soccer, because 15 coaching positions could be eliminated.

* In the Ventura Unified School District, officials must make up an estimated deficit of $3.2 million in its $57-million budget. Nearly 100 employees may be laid off or demoted. Twenty-eight temporary teachers will not be rehired next year, and up to 65 people in administrative and non-teaching positions could be demoted or let go. Teachers’ salaries and benefits may be cut 4% to 8%.

* The Oxnard Elementary School District must slash an estimated $3.1 million from its $51.3-million budget. Officials notified 63 employees, including two nurses and 13 reading specialists, of possible layoff. Music will no longer be offered for elementary school children. And to save operating costs until a replacement school is built, Ramona Elementary School will be closed a year earlier than planned.

* The Santa Paula Elementary School District faces estimated cuts of nearly $700,000 from its $13-million budget. Ten teachers may be laid off and cafeteria workers’ hours have been reduced.

* In the Santa Paula Union High School District, nearly $500,000 must be cut from a budget of about $6 million. Four teachers were notified last week that they would be laid off, and additional cuts are expected in the non-teaching ranks, including secretaries and janitors. The budget for supplies, from paper and pencils to brooms and mops, will be cut by $89,000.

* In addition, the Ventura County Community College District must cut an estimated $4.6 million from its $64-million budget to keep Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges afloat.

Officials in all the school districts said they have tried to keep cuts away from the classroom.

But, in some cases, classrooms will be hit hard.

In Oxnard’s Ocean View Elementary School District, kindergarten teacher Helen Faul said the classroom will be hurt by the loss of funding to mentor teacher programs statewide. Mentor teachers are veterans who were paid extra money to help develop curriculum and train other teachers.

Children in Faul’s class, who speak six languages including Spanish, Vietnamese and the Philippine language, Tagalog, may lose the benefit of a mentor teacher who specializes in language development, she said.

In Oxnard’s elementary schools, reading specialists who tutored children with reading problems may go back to regular teaching. Those children will have to try to keep up in regular classes, said Ann Hendricks, president of the Oxnard Educators Assn.

Janis Johnson, president of a group that oversees PTAs in Oxnard’s schools, said elementary schools will be particularly hurt by the loss of music programs.

“I feel very strongly about the music program,” said Johnson, but she added, “I don’t know where else they can cut. With everything we’re hearing about the budget, I believe the district’s hands are tied.”

Both inside and outside the classroom, many schools will not be as clean next year because custodial and maintenance workers’ hours have been cut, said Kaysee Rowlett, a union representative for workers in eight districts.

Already in the Santa Paula Elementary School District, the depleted custodial staff struggles to clean classrooms with fewer people, said Ray Frutos, a custodian at Santa Paula’s Isbell Middle School.

With the loss of a program employing high school students to help sweep up after school, the custodial staff has been cut nearly in half, Frutos said.

“Maintenance is really down the tubes, and it’s going to get worse,” said Frutos, who heads the district’s non-teaching employees union. “It’s filthy. It’s a shame.”

Besides the threat of layoffs, teacher morale is low because some teachers are facing pay cuts, as in Ventura, or no increases, as in the Ocean View Elementary and Fillmore Unified school districts.

At the same time, because districts are buying fewer supplies, teachers must dig deeper into their pockets to pay for books, paper and other supplies.

Despite the dire budgets, teachers, district officials and parents said they still harbor hope that additional funding from the state will come through.

“I sort of feel like, enough is enough,” said Supt. Robert Allen of the Ocean View district. “We’re all trying to proceed with no increases in income, but we’re receiving increases in students. . . . The kids are the big losers in this.”

SCHOOL FUNDING CRISIS

School districts have rising costs for salaries, benefits, transportation and utilities. However, schools are getting less money from the state. To balance budgets, deficits must be made up by cuts such as layoffs and drawing from already depleted reserves.

Deficits Are Projected DISTRICT: SIMI VALLEY BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $72.8 DEFICIT: $2.3 MILLION DISTRICT: CONEJO VALLEY BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $70.7 DEFICIT: $3.9 MILLION DISTRICT: VENTURA UNIFIED BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $57.0 DEFICIT: $3.2 MILLION DISTRICT: OXNARD ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $51.3 DEFICIT: $3.1 MILLION DISTRICT: OXNARD UNION HIGH BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $46.0 DEFICIT: $390,000 DISTRICT: HUENEME ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $46.0 DEFICIT: $966,000 DISTRICT: PLEASANT VALLEY ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $25.0 DEFICIT: $1.8 MILLION DISTRICT: MOORPARK UNIFIED BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $20.0 DEFICIT: $800,000 DISTRICT: OJAI UNIFIED BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $13.8 DEFICIT: $750,000 DISTRICT: SANTA PAULA ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $13.0 DEFICIT: $700,000 DISTRICT: FILLMORE UNIFIED BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $13.0 DEFICIT: $70,000 DISTRICT: RIO ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $10.0 DEFICIT: $500,000 DISTRICT: OCEAN VIEW ELEM. BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $10.0 DEFICIT: $300,000 DISTRICT: OAK PARK UNIFIED BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $7.0 DEFICIT: $80,000 DISTRICT: SANTA PAULA UNION HIGH BUDGET PROJECTION FOR 1991-’92 ($MILLION): $5.9 DEFICIT: $493,000

Reserves Are Shrinking DISTRICT: SIMI VALLEY JULY 1990: $5.3 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $1.6 MILLION DISTRICT: CONEJO VALLEY JULY 1990: $7.2 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $2.5 MILLION DISTRICT: VENTURA UNIFIED JULY 1990: $1.8 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $181,572 DISTRICT: OXNARD UNION HIGH JULY 1990: $4.2 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $2.4 MILLION DISTRICT: HUENEME ELEM. JULY 1990: $1.7 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $1.1 MILLION DISTRICT: PLEASANT VALLEY ELEM. JULY 1990: $3.3 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $2.4 MILLION DISTRICT: MOORPARK UNIFIED JULY 1990: $1.9 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $513,794 DISTRICT: OJAI UNIFIED JULY 1990: $995,153 JULY 1991 (Estimated): $739,000 DISTRICT: SANTA PAULA ELEM. JULY 1990: $897,524 JULY 1991 (Estimated): $10,922 DISTRICT: FILLMORE UNIFIED JULY 1990: $1.1 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $684,174 DISTRICT: RIO ELEM. JULY 1990: $1.2 MILLION JULY 1991 (Estimated): $865,363 DISTRICT: OCEAN VIEW ELEM. JULY 1990: $137,506 JULY 1991 (Estimated): $23,500 DISTRICT: OAK PARK UNIFIED JULY 1990: $961,478 JULY 1991 (Estimated): $947,622 DISTRICT: SANTA PAULA UNION HIGH JULY 1990: $248,416 JULY 1991 (Estimated): $26,273 NOTE: Uncertainty in state funding makes projections for 1992 reserves impossible to estimate, school officials said. Sources: Ventura County Superintendent of Schools office, School Districts