30 More Layoffs Tentatively OKd by Beleaguered School District : Budget: The action affects non-teaching employees. The district had previously slashed more than $20 million from its budget, laying off about 150 people.

The financially troubled Montebello Unified School District inched close to a balanced budget this week when officials tentatively approved budget cuts that will cost about 30 non-teaching employees their jobs.

The impending layoffs will save the district about $700,000. The school board also approved $242,000 in unspecified cuts. Provisional business manager Glenn Sheppard had urged the board to approve the reductions, and promised to return later this month with a list of specific recommendations, including employees’ facing layoffs.

The district had previously slashed more than $20 million from its budget, laying off about 150 employees. Most of them were non-tenured teachers. The previous cuts swelled class size, shrank the district nursing staff by 20% and eliminated all elementary school librarians.

“Every meeting we learn of some new number (to cut). Maybe it would be better if we didn’t meet,” board member Darrell Heacock quipped.

Employees who keep their jobs can expect almost certain reductions in pay and benefits. The proposed $101.4-million budget, up for final approval tonight, contains more than $4 million in “compensation adjustments.”

The leaders of the Montebello Teachers Assn. agreed last week to a 2.3% pay cut and some reduction of benefits. Montebello teachers, once the highest paid in the county, will vote on the package Monday. Similar reductions will likely be offered to remaining non-teaching employees.

“Some people are relieved that we’ve settled; many are disappointed,” said Kathy Klein, president of the Montebello Teachers Assn. “There is a huge loss of confidence in the district, but we were doing our part to keep the district from going bankrupt.”

John Espinoza, vice president of the union for non-teachers, agreed that morale was low, but praised Sheppard and Acting Supt. Darline Robles for their bluntness about the district’s financial predicament. If their predecessors had confronted district financial problems with such directness, he said, the schools would not have slipped to the brink of bankruptcy.

The district had to float bonds just to meet its June payroll. Even with the bonds, the district finished the last school year more than $2 million in the red, officials said. The state has threatened to take over the school system if board members do not make massive spending cuts.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education has tentatively accepted Montebello’s rescue plan. The county has agreed to let the district operate with a $500,000 reserve, well below the recommended minimum of about $2 million. In exchange, Montebello officials agreed to meet with a peer-review committee of outside educators and financial analysts.

In addition to the unspecified reductions, board members Tuesday shortened the work day of instructional aides in special education to save close to $50,000.

The board also tentatively approved a number of accounting maneuvers to prop up the general fund at the expense of other accounts. The district will now charge the adult school and cafeteria fund more for clerical assistance.

The change could result in higher food prices for students in future years.

The maintenance budget, which already had been reduced by $285,000, took another $50,000 cut. “We better hope it doesn’t rain much this year,” board member Heacock said, noting that there would be little money to fix a leaking roof.

Officials also decided to increase estimates of lottery revenue and noted that a larger-than-expected enrollment would also bring in more state money.

Throughout Tuesday’s 3 1/2-hour meeting, staff and board members spoke of managing money in a conservative fashion that they conceded was revolutionary for the district.

“We’re going to require people to stay in their budgets, which we haven’t in the past,” Acting Supt. Robles said.

The district’s financial problems have been caused, in large measure, by higher-than-average salaries, overestimates of state funding and ambitious, but costly education programs, state auditors have said.

Board newcomer Frank Serrano praised the more conservative approach. “I see people who are realizing we’re in a horrible financial situation,” he said. “It’s not hearsay to scare people. It’s a reality. We have to look at what we can do without. We’re looking at receivership. Anything can tip the scale.”

“We are no longer a rich district. We can no longer spend outside of our limitations.”

Sheppard predicted that the district’s plan would restore it to financial health after three or four lean years, but noted there was no longer much margin for error.

“There is nothing left in the piggy bank,” he said.