L.A. School Board Tentatively Balances Its Budget : Education: It is counting on the restoration of some state grants and still must cut $400 million from next year’s spending program.

Just days before it takes final action on how to solve the worst fiscal crisis ever faced by the school district, the Los Angeles Board of Education tentatively balanced its budget Monday by counting on a restoration of more than $12 million in state grant monies, as well as approving reductions in utility costs and an account used to pay substitute teachers.

But the sharply divided board either rejected or was unable to agree on several other cost-cutting recommendations offered by members. The board must cut at least $400 million from next year’s budget, much of which may have to come from employee salaries.

The preliminary votes cast Monday were to give further direction to district staff before the board makes its final decisions on budget cuts Thursday. But Robert Booker, the district’s chief financial officer, emphasized that those decisions may still not be the end of what has been a painful budgetary process.

With the state, the district’s main source of funding, facing a massive fiscal crisis of its own, Booker said, “We still have a considerable distance to go to find additional reductions in the event that the Legislature cannot deal with its fiscal problems without inflicting additional pain on education,” said Booker, referring to Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to cut school spending by about $2 billion next year. “We’ll need to revisit this budget during the months of July and August after we find out what the state’s final fiscal picture will be.”

The board’s preliminary decision to balance the budget by utilizing year-round grant monies hinges on whether the state decides to restore the $12.3 million that the governor has proposed cutting. Gov. Pete Wilson proposed reducing the district’s year-round operational grant from $31.5 million to $19.2 million next fiscal year. The district may have to make additional budget cuts if the full amount is not restored in the state’s final budget.

The board also tentatively approved eliminating one position in a unit that reviews district polices and practices, and saving $2 million in utility costs and pay for substitute teachers.

But the board rejected a wide range of proposals that could save millions of dollars but would temporarily eliminate district funding of such programs as high school athletics and the administration of the master plan for educating students who speak limited English.

Board member Mark Slavkin, who proposed many of the rejected suggestions, said he understood that all of the programs he recommended for reductions were of value. “But in order to confront this crisis we have to make hard choices, and these are some of the choices we have to make.”

Several board members disagreed, refusing to cut programs that they say help disadvantaged students and serve the community. They also voted 5 to 1 against cutting their staff assistants. The sole vote in favor was cast by Julie Korenstein, who offered the proposal. She is the only board member without a field representative.

Saying that the aides serve as a vital liaison to the community, board member Leticia Quezada voted against the recommendation, adding that “a field representative is not a service to me. It’s a service to my schools.”