County Officials Reject District’s School Budget

The Los Angeles County office of education says it cannot approve the Inglewood Unified School District’s 1997-1998 budget because several issues remain unresolved.

After the annual review of all 81 county school districts, county officials notified Inglewood last week that its $110-million budget had been disapproved. The review found that several funds had negative balances and business operations needed to be improved.

An audit of the district’s finances has not yet been completed, which county officials said also contributed to rejection of the budget. The county refused three other school districts’ budgets because of budgetary concerns.

Until the budget is settled, the district will have to put planned raises for its non-teaching employees on hold. A recent raise given to Supt. McKinley Nash will also be delayed. The district is required to submit a revised budget to the county by Sept. 8.

“There are some corrections that need to be made but overall we feel very optimistic,” said Board Vice President Thomasina Reed.

County officials applauded the district’s success in wiping out deficits in its Adult Education and Child Development funds. They also informed the district that a preliminary report from the auditor found that there were no major problems with the district’s average daily attendance accounting--a major focus of the county-ordered audit.