Teachers May Face Another Salary Cut : Education: Inglewood district officials say trims are needed to help offset a projected $3.5-million deficit. Proposed budget will be presented at a Wednesday hearing.

Teachers and other employees in the Inglewood Unified School District could suffer a 2% pay cut under a proposed budget that will be presented at a public hearing this week.

The spending plan, tentatively approved last week by the school board, is expected to draw heated opposition Wednesday night and, perhaps, a legal challenge from teachers and other employee groups.

But with the district facing a deficit of about $3.5 million next year, district officials say the salary cuts are the only way--apart from layoffs--to balance the 1993-94 budget.

For a teacher with six years’ experience and a master’s degree who earns $30,200 annually, a 2% pay cut would exceed $600 for the year.

The district now serves 16,000 students in 13 elementary schools, two junior high schools and three high schools.

If the proposal is upheld, district employees would endure a pay cut for the second year in a row.

The board in April ordered a 1% pay cut for all employees, from the superintendent on down, for the 1992-93 school year. However, everyone but the teachers got two days’ furlough in exchange for the loss in pay.

The Inglewood Teachers Assn. sought help from the state Public Employee Relations Board, saying the 1% cut was illegal. In a recent PERB-supervised settlement between the district and the teachers, the cut was upheld and the district agreed to give the teachers two days off, one next year and one in the 1995-96 school year.

The proposed 2% pay cut is subject to negotiations with the employee unions.

If nothing is agreed upon during upcoming negotiations, the unions’ next step would be state-supervised fact-finding sessions. The burden would then be on the unions to show that the district has enough money to retain current salary levels.

“Right now,” said School Board President Thomasina Reed, “we say we don’t have the money.”

A labor grievance, such as the one filed by teachers over the 1% cut, could be hard to win. The district did not sweeten the pay cut with furlough days.

Wednesday’s hearing will be held at school district headquarters beginning at 6:30 p.m.