Schools’ Budget Wound Reopens : Education: Officials disclose new $33-million shortfall and blame state funding cuts. Bigger classes are called likely.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, already reeling from $241 million in budget cuts, announced an additional $33-million shortfall Thursday that officials said could force increases in some class sizes and the elimination of 700 jobs.

“This is devastating news to all of us,” Supt. Bill Anton said at a news conference.

The superintendent declined to detail his plans to deal with the latest budget woes until a school board meeting Tuesday. But he suggested that the average class size in first through eighth grades might rise from 27 to 30.

The district already has hiked the average class size for grades nine through 12 by three students--to 30 in the ninth grade and 39.25 in grades 10 through 12.

“We must look at that. . . . We really don’t have a lot of other options,” Anton said.

Officials estimated that about 700 employees may have to be laid off in the nation’s second-largest school district. That would be in addition to the 1,473 positions--teachers, nurses, administrators and custodians--to be either eliminated or left vacant this year, according to Robert Booker, the district’s chief financial officer.

Booker blamed $21.6 million of the new deficit on lower-than-expected state funding, primarily from special education programs and lottery proceeds. Another $11.4 million was caused by higher-than-anticipated costs for utilities, workers’ compensation and special education, he said.

The school board in June adopted its 1991-92 budget of $4 billion without deciding where $10 million of the $241 million in initial cuts would come from. That decision still has not been made.

But almost every area of the district has felt the cuts already made since last spring. Now more are on the way.

More than 1,500 positions were eliminated--including about 1,250 teachers and administrators. The board also approved pay cuts and unpaid furloughs of two to five days, all subject to negotiations with employee unions but likely to take effect this fall.

At a special meeting Thursday, school board members said they were distraught and angry about the latest news. They said they would urge Gov. Pete Wilson and legislators to use state reserve funds for special education programs.

“I’m past being shocked any longer,” said board member Julie Korenstein. “This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. We’re not just on the verge of bankruptcy. We’re on the verge of bankrupting public education.”

Board member Jeff Horton remarked: “How can you run a school district if the state keeps pulling the rug from under education in Los Angeles? It’s disgusting.”

The district is negotiating with employee unions on plans for possible 3% pay cuts. United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein said her union will resist those pay cuts and any further layoffs.

“It’s not the teachers’ responsibility to fund public education,” she said. Bernstein added that she was skeptical about some of the $11.4 million in cost overruns cited by the district Thursday. And, she added, many teachers think that administrative costs can be cut more.

Still, she pledged to work with district leaders to seek a solution to the crisis. “I would be a fool not to say the fiscal picture is grim,” Bernstein said.

Anton and Booker insisted that they did not know of the extra shortfall until earlier this week, after analysis of the state budget. Asked about the teachers’ union’s call for more trims in administration, Anton replied: “I don’t think we can do that and still operate.”