School Integration Program Spared From Budget Ax

To the relief of parents and teachers, the Board of Education on Monday spared key elements of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s integration program, choosing to make up an $18-million funding shortfall with savings from anticipated cuts in employee salaries and reductions in transportation costs.

The board voted 6 to 0 in favor of recommendations that would balance the integration program’s $405.7-million budget for the 1992-93 fiscal year. Board member Roberta Weintraub was absent.

Besides saving $11 million through reductions in school bus transportation, officials are counting on $7 million in savings from projected cuts in pay to district employees.

Among the programs spared major reductions was the Ten Schools Program, which since its inception in 1987 has sought to raise achievement at 10 of Los Angeles’ most troubled inner-city elementary schools.

About 30 supporters of the program attended the board meeting to show their concern for the effort, which just days ago stood to lose more than half of its $10-million budget to deal with the shortfall.

“I was going to quit,” said Sheila Troupe, a kindergarten teacher at 102nd Street Elementary School, who told the board that the program’s benefits are evident in far more ways than rising test scores.

“Attendance is up, vandalism is down,” she told board members. “Let’s not give up now.”

The Ten Schools Program will keep a budget of about $10 million next fiscal year as it embarks on its second five-year cycle, said Theodore T. Alexander Jr., assistant superintendent for student integration services.

Magnet programs, another key part of the district’s integration plan, also will remain intact and expand next year at previously designated schools.

Board member Jeff Horton attempted to reintroduce a proposal to save $2.4 million by shifting full-time magnet school coordinators to a part-time basis, but the idea got no support.

For the 1992-93 school year, more than 36,500 students have applied to attend magnet programs, which provide integrated learning environments with specialized curriculum. The number of applicants jumped 20% over the previous year, with about 10,000 students selected for new openings, according to officials. The nearly 26,000 students remaining were placed on waiting lists for next school year.

Alexander admitted that cuts to the integration budget may need reconsideration later because the board has not made a decision on how much it will dip into employee compensation to slash $400 million from the district’s budget for next year.

The board will continue discussing possible reductions this week and take a final vote next Thursday, officials said.