Making Do in Class : Spending Freeze Means Teachers Scrimp More, Spend Own Money

For the financially troubled Los Angeles Unified School District, a continued spending freeze on office and school supplies means a savings of $7 million.

But for two teachers at Sierra Vista Elementary School in East Los Angeles, the spending freeze means more of the same--more scrimping, more sacrifice, more digging into their own pockets to try to make up some of the difference.

“You can (be) a wonderful teacher,” Vianca Dunning said Wednesday, “but if you have no materials, all you have is your ideas. It’s tough.”

The Los Angeles school board approved a package of recommendations Tuesday to make up a $130-million deficit and balance its $3.8-billion budget. To save the district money, the board authorized such measures as draining the district’s emergency reserve account and deferring payments to three self-insurance funds.

But the action that will have the most impact on schools districtwide is the continuation of a spending freeze on school and district office materials that began early this month.

Schools, which are given a spending budget at the beginning of the fiscal year, will still be able to purchase pencils, paper and other “essential items,” said Beth Louargand, deputy administrator of the district’s business services.

However, rather than ordering directly from a district warehouse, schools will need to order supplies through a special district committee that will review the request, Louargand explained. Purchases of such “non-essential” items as televisions may have to wait until the start of the next fiscal year, but Louargand said processing of requests for basic supplies should take only a week longer than under normal circumstances.

“With the essential items, (the freeze) won’t be felt,” Louargand said.

For Dunning and her colleague, Celeste Baca, such reassurances offer little solace.

Baca, who teaches third- and fourth-graders, said this year’s freeze meant half of her class could not make paper lanterns for Chinese New Year earlier this month because the school did not have enough colored paper.

It’s not a matter of wanting extras, said Baca. “We’re trying to deal with basics.”

Last year, she said she spent $500 of her own money to buy pencils, paper and posters for her classroom.

For Dunning, it meant bringing in her own television set to teach her class of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders who have learning disabilities. The school cannot afford to replace the sets that are broken, she said, and must share the few that remain.

In both teachers’ classes, students have to write on both sides of a sheet of paper, and even scraps of construction paper are saved in case they can be used.

“Before, you’d use part of it and throw the scraps away,” said Baca. “We don’t throw anything away anymore.”

Dunning said she realizes the district is in financial straits, but wonders if there is a better way to cut expenses.

“They’re always talking about education, how important it is, and they don’t back it up,” said Dunning. “I understand the budget is screwed up. But some things are more important.”