LAUSD’s Proposed Reduction in User Fees Called Insufficient : Youth sports: More than 100 representatives of athletic groups decry plan to charge for the use of facilities.

Though the Los Angeles Unified School District reduced the fee it proposes to charge groups wishing to use its facilities, dozens of youth athletic representatives cried foul at a district meeting Wednesday and reiterated that fees of any sort will result in the elimination of their athletic programs.

More than 100 representatives of groups or teams that stand to be affected by the user-fee proposal decried the plan, even though a costly custodial fee for nonprofit groups was eliminated.

Under a revamped proposal, unveiled at the meeting by Deputy Supervisor Sid Thompson, groups would be charged an hourly fee for the use of athletic or classroom facilities. The district previously had included custodial fees of as much as $500 per event in its original fee estimates.

Bob Hardy, football commissioner for the Valley Youth Conference, said that 60 of 80 teams in the organization likely will fold before the season.

“There’s no way we can sell that many candy bars,” Hardy said. “These kids are being double-dipped: They’re impacted by cuts in the classroom and on the field.”

Under the new fee scale, which Thompson hopes to have in place Tuesday, a nonprofit group using a football stadium with no lights would be charged $16.64 per hour. A baseball field would cost $13.38 per hour and a large high school gymnasium would cost as much as $21.03.

Included in the hourly charges are supervision, maintenance and administrative costs, Thompson said. Charges likely will be levied at each of the district’s schools--nearly 800 in number.

“This is about as fair as we can make it,” said Jim Sugahara of the Student Auxiliary Services division, which will coordinate implementation of the proposal. “Everybody has to have a share in this. To say that one group pays and another doesn’t isn’t fair.”

All groups that previously had been issued use permits for district facilities had the permits revoked July 1, when the new fiscal year began. The L.A. Board of Education eliminated funding for on-campus Youth Services coordinators and directed Student Auxiliary Services to make the positions self-sufficient.

District facilities have been closed since July 1 while the user-fee plan is being formulated.

Athletic organizations and teams again will have to apply for user permits, perhaps as soon as next week, and will be asked to pay fees in advance before using district fields. User fees may be paid monthly, Sugahara said.

“Otherwise we have no money to pay these (youth services) people to open the gates,” Sugahara said.

Concern was voiced over the district’s failure to warn organizations about how seriously the budget cuts would affect them. Representatives from many groups said that teams long ago ordered equipment and began planning for their seasons and have nothing left over for user fees.

Thomas Irvine, commissioner of the King Conference, a youth football association that runs from Orange County to the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, said that he could lose as many as 55 teams. Most affected will be teams in the South-Central area.

Irvine rattled off the names of several professional athletes who played in his organization and said the board should reconsider depriving children in the inner city of a constructive outlet. Irvine urged Thompson to seek board approval for a grace period because teams were given little lead time to raise additional funds.

Said Thompson: “I’m willing to go back to (the board) about it, but there are no promises. I’ll take to them the idea of what’s happened and how it’s impacted all of you and we’ll go from there.”

Vic Farhood of the Valley Youth Conference also chided Sugahara and Thompson over the failure to alert sports organizations that the cuts were likely.

“You knew the budget deficit was coming,” said Farhood, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. “Then why did we only find out 2 1/2 weeks ago when the permits were canceled?”

Board member Roberta Weintraub sat in on much of the meeting and agreed that the budgetary rug was pulled from under those using the district facilities.

“It’s really hit home with me,” Weintraub said. “There should have been, in my opinion, some warning so that (user fees) could have been built into your kitties.”

Sgt. Pat Connolly of the LAPD, a volunteer track coach, said that the field closure literally left him standing at a locked gate at Birmingham High. He said he was forced to tell “80 kids to go home,” because the district didn’t allow him enough time to contact the members of his team.

Thompson said the district will not take a hard-line stance on those who use the facilities in the interim. “If kids climb the fences, we’re not going to touch them,” Thompson said. “As a rule, if youngsters or even adults are in there, we’re not going to bother them.”

Thompson stated several times that he understands the economic plight of the organizations affected by the user-fee proposal. But the district also has fallen on hard times. “My own kids have been in these programs,” Thompson said. “I understand the efficacy and value of them. I know it hurts.”

All in attendance agreed that the user-fee proposal will leave many casualties in its wake.

“I’ve been coaching for 23 years,” said Joe Bergara, coach of the San Fernando American Legion baseball team and a longtime volunteer assistant at San Fernando High. “And this is the darkest day of my life.

“We’re putting kids out on the street, where the gangs are waiting for them, and that’s just not right.”