Planned Budget Cuts Put City Athletics in Jeopardy : Economy: L.A. school district’s Slavkin says he will pursue corporate sponsorship to offset his proposed $5-million reduction.

City Section athletics are facing the budget ax this week as trustees of the Los Angeles Unified School District attempt to stave off deep salary cuts for district employees.

Board member Mark Slavkin unveiled a proposal this week in which $5 million would be slashed from the athletics budget, effectively eliminating interscholastic sports. Slavkin said he would seek corporate sponsorship to maintain athletics.

The athletic budget for 1992-93 officially is $3.2 million. District spokesman Pat Spencer said he did not know how Slavkin arrived at the figure of $5 million.

The board is seeking ways to trim the 1992-93 budget in an effort to avoid massive salary cuts for the district’s 70,000 employees. Spencer said the board is expected to announce its final cuts Sept. 24 and that a budget must be finalized by Sept. 30.

At a district press conference Tuesday, Slavkin outlined $22.6 million in cuts--including the athletic budget--that he says he will support.

Slavkin proposed a similar list of cuts to the board in June, but none were enacted.

Slavkin could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but Spencer said a surcharge on tickets for professional sporting events is one option the board is considering to keep the athletics program afloat.

San Francisco currently levies a surcharge on tickets to professional sporting events to help underwrite high school sports.

How long it would take for a surcharge to be put in place in the Los Angeles area is unknown.

John Van de Kamp, the state attorney general, is participating in the budget meetings and has recommended that a ticket surcharge be examined, Spencer said.

Van de Kamp also heads an independent commission that is studying the district’s financial woes.