Honor a Deal, Keep Schools Open

The budget news doesn’t get any better for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The latest shortfall, a $20-million deficit, stems from a drop in anticipated property-tax revenues. In spite of that unexpected gap, a majority of the Los Angeles school board is courageously refusing to renege on the fragile labor agreement with the teachers.

This new deficit adds to pressure on the board because the cash-strapped district has already slashed $400 million from this year’s budget. More cuts will be necessary to allow the board to keep its promise to reduce teachers’ pay by 10% instead of the 12% proposal that had been on the table before Assembly Speaker Willie Brown successfully mediated the dispute.

Keeping that promise is expected to cost the district $36 million, which would be funded primarily from emergency reserves. Breaking that promise would revive the threat of a teachers’ strike, which would further erode confidence in the public schools.

Board member Barbara Boudreaux plans to ask her colleagues to reconsider the deal at their March 15 meeting. It’s understandable that Boudreaux, a former principal who tends to put children first, wants to raise the issue. This deal has its bad elements. Schoolchildren will suffer when they are forced to share textbooks, forgo field trips and skip other enrichment activities. But they will suffer even more if their teachers go on strike. So while the board should certainly discuss this latest budget crisis, scrapping the agreement with the teachers’ union should not be on the agenda.

California’s public schools were once considered models that nurtured students regardless of ability, introduced music and art to all and encouraged athletic success. Budget wars, prompted initially by Proposition 13 but exacerbated by the current recession, have stripped our schools of most extras and some basics. Years of budget deficits have forced even the most caring school board members to value a balanced budget over guarantees of educational excellence.

Now the Los Angeles school board must perform yet another miracle--finding the money to make up the latest deficit. But supporting the proposed teachers contract is one promise the board needs to keep. And it should.