Trustees Balk at Proposed School Cuts

San Diego city schools trustees showed a clear unwillingness Monday to go along with several proposed budget cuts by Supt. Tom Payzant that directly affect students.

At a special budget workshop, a majority of trustees said they want to pursue a one- or two-day unpaid furlough for all district employees as well as consider more cuts in non-classroom services before slashing music, drug education, sex and AIDS, career counseling and other direct student-related programs as suggested last month by Payzant.

“I think it’s true we’re looking at many alternatives” to the superintendent’s recommendations, Trustee Shirley Weber, often a swing vote on the board, said after the three-hour meeting.

There is no consensus yet among the five-member board about where to set priorities in cutting expenditures by $10 million to $20 million to balance a $558-million budget for the 1992-93 school year.

But, as Payzant pushes trustees to make decisions by early May, the board is viewing his proposals much more skeptically than it traditionally has.

“That’s true, there’s more of a challenge by trustees this year,” said Kermeen Fristrom, a longtime district curriculum planner and now executive director of the group that represents principals and central office administrators.

Board President Ann Armstrong said Monday that she doubts the board will go along with Payzant’s plans to eliminate elementary instrumental music--an $832,000 savings--or take away $926,000 used to support teaching youth about sex, drugs and AIDS.

Colleague John De Beck agreed, adding that he doesn’t believe the board will go along with cuts in counseling, or a one-third slash, totaling $3.22 million, in school site money that principals and teachers use--among other things--to supply pencils and papers, buy supplementary textbooks, order repairs to windows and lights and send students on field trips.

But trustees have yet to reach agreement on other options, such as returning all non-classroom teachers to teaching duties before supplies and school budgets are reduced.

Trustee Susan Davis broached the idea for a two-day unpaid furlough on non-teaching days for all 9,777 district employees, which would save almost $4.1 million. Payzant previously had suggested a one-day unpaid furlough, saving $2.04 million, although any unpaid leave must be negotiated with the district’s several unions.

Weber and Armstrong said they have received calls from many teachers who say there should be across-the-board furloughs, or even a 1% rollback in salaries, instead of selected cuts that would decimate particular programs such as music.

“I’m looking at a two- or even a three-day furlough,” said Weber, adding that people have called her to say that an unpaid leave, or even a 1% salary rollback, “is far more equitable because everyone would share in the pain . . . everyone would sacrifice.”

The senior high principals have agreed to support a two-day furlough for all employees except teachers with less than five years’ experience, and secretaries and other non-classroom workers who are on the low end of salary scales.

“Americans are bleeding, and many have already lost their jobs,” Jim Vlassis, Mira Mesa High principal, said Monday. “We have to take our fair share and (two days without pay) is far better than losing jobs completely or hurting kids in the classroom.”

Trustee De Beck said Monday that he is withholding support for any furlough until he determines whether the central office administration can be cut further, beyond the $9 million and 150 positions eliminated last year. De Beck has proposed wholesale reductions in assistant superintendents and non-classroom resource teachers--almost 200--as a way to keep as many school programs as he can.

Although it is doubtful that De Beck’s full package of administrative cuts will fly--especially in the face of determined Payzant opposition--some elements could be adopted by the board. Trustees spent considerable time Monday debating to what extent the non-classroom teachers could be put back into classes, saving as much as $9 million.

“I just feel that we have to look a this almost on a case-by-case basis, because some resource teachers are in the classroom and really helping teachers while others may not be so necessary,” Armstrong said.

Hugh Boyle, president of the teachers union, backed De Beck’s call for additional, substantial cuts in the central office.

“I just don’t see how we can maintain the district’s look given the magnitude of budget cuts necessary,” Boyle said Monday. “People point to the special resource programs that we have had, and I say we can’t afford to have so many people out of the classroom anymore. We have to push (Payzant() further than he wants to go in cutting the central office.”

Boyle said he has found no consensus among his members regarding furloughs, but warned that the issue “will have to be discussed,” given predictions of a local budget deficit approaching $15 million or more if the state budget outlook worsens, as expected, in the next two months.

The senior high principals also back more central office reductions, Vlassis said.

“There should not be a single resource teacher left in the education center before we start cutting back things at schools,” Vlassis said. “That’s our position. We just can’t afford these luxuries anymore.”

Vlassis said he personally would take a one-month cut, from 12 to 11, in his work year if necessary to save academic programs, “although I sure as hell would not like it.” Trustees are exploring the option of putting many administrators, both at schools and at the central office, on 10- or 11-month schedules, saving close to $1 million. Senior high principals now work 12-month contracts, planning for the next school year during summer months; lower-grade principals work 11-month contracts.

“I don’t know if it would work, but it’s still better than” hurting students directly, Vlassis said.