Legislators Urged to Protect Schools : Finances: Administrators say Wilson’s budget ax would be especially harmful to L.A. County campuses whose students were most affected by the riots.

Noting that a sizable chunk of the money Gov. Pete Wilson proposes to cut from California’s education spending would be taken from schools whose students were most affected by the riots, administrators of several urban school districts in Los Angeles County on Monday urged legislators not to balance the budget “on the backs of our children.”

“We cannot rebuild L.A. when the foundation of our public school system is being destroyed,” Stuart E. Gothold, superintendent of the county Office of Education, told a news conference at Highland Elementary School in Inglewood.

Along with officials of some of the eight districts who are seeking ways to pump resources into schools hardest hit by the uprisings, Gothold outlined the likely effects of the governor’s plan to pull the state out of a $10.7-billion budget gap.

Wilson wants to cut school and community college funding by $2.3 billion from the budget he submitted in January, although he recently proposed softening the blow by reducing the cut by $700 million, which schools would be required to repay in coming years.

Gothold calculated that the eight districts’ share of the Wilson cuts would be at least $65 million. Their schools have mostly poor, minority or immigrant students with special needs.

In the 6,000-student Lennox School District, where 94% of youngsters start school speaking a language other than English, the estimated $1.6 million that the governor’s proposal represents would mean the elimination of 11 teachers and 84 other employees.

“That’s almost everyone outside the classroom,” Supt. Kenneth Moffett said of counseling and other services that would have to be eliminated. “Our youngsters need this help.”

In the 75,000-student Long Beach Unified School District, California’s third largest, the governor’s plan would strip away about $27 million, said Tomio Nishimura, an assistant superintendent. The cut would sweep away many counseling, library and nursing services and slice into music programs and campus maintenance. Any ensuing layoffs would almost certainly be in custodial, clerical or other support services because the state-required deadline for dismissing teachers and other credential holders has passed, Nishimura said.

And in the 42,000-student Pasadena Unified School District, which has cut $7 million over the last three years, the $9-million share of Wilson’s proposed reduction for the coming school year “would be nothing short of devastating,” said Supt. Vera Vignes.

Acknowledging that some education reductions seem inevitable, most administrators said they support a budget compromise offered by Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) and backed by Democratic leaders. That proposal would reduce school spending by about $900 million below the level of Wilson’s January budget.

The proposed school funding cuts came just as the county Office of Education and the eight districts were scrambling to launch their Educational Enterprise Zones project. The project, designed in response to the riots, calls for summer job, schooling and recreation programs and systems for smoothing the transition from school to a job. It also calls for creation of a new elementary curriculum, which would emphasize nonviolence, values education and intergroup relations skills.

But they have yet to find funding for the enterprise zones project, which, besides Lennox, Long Beach and Pasadena, involves Compton, Inglewood, Los Angeles and Lynwood unified school districts, plus the Los Angeles Community College District.

Inglewood Supt. George McKenna said he is disappointed about the lack of money for the enterprise zones project, especially in the face of looming state budget cuts.

“People can use schools to differentiate power in society,” said McKenna, arguing that a good education is the only hope for a better chance in life for most of Inglewood’s 17,500 students, 98% of whom are African-Americans or Latinos.

The governor’s proposal is likely to mean a $3.6-million loss to the Inglewood district, McKenna said, and that probably would result in the loss of seven teaching jobs, a 6% pay cut for all employees and unpaid days off for some.

“How do you rebuild without an educational system?” McKenna asked.