Proposed School Budget Grows by 18%, Includes 2.4% Raise for Teachers

Los Angeles school officials unveiled a $5.87-billion final budget Tuesday that grew nearly 18% over last year’s spending plan and would guarantee teachers at least a 2.4% raise in the 1997-98 school year.

Budget officials for the Los Angeles Unified School District said they added about $600 million to their preliminary May estimates, mostly resulting from enhancements in the state budget adopted in August.

“It’s a good budget,” said the chief financial officer, Henry Jones.

Reflecting the continuing growth of the state economy, the new budget culminates several years of growth that should begin slowing down next year, Jones said.

The extra revenue includes $309 more per student, raising the total state compensation to $5,292. It also includes an increase in the per-student grant for class size reduction, the first $365.5 million in Proposition BB funds for school repairs and reimbursement of money withheld from the district during the state’s budget crisis of the early 1990s.

The increases will be adequate to educate an additional 13,392 students expected to enter the district this year, Jones said.

Anticipating the added revenue, the Los Angeles teachers union has asked to reopen its three-year contract a year before it expires. However, Jones said the salary formula in the existing contract guarantees the teachers a raise of at least 2.4% in addition to whatever else they may negotiate.

The budget defers cost of living increases for integration funds, adult education and a handful of other school programs because of $200 million Gov. Pete Wilson struck out of the state budget in an attempt to force the Legislature to end standardized testing in languages other than English.

If the governor gets his way, those increases could be restored, Jones said.

The increase in class size reduction funding to $160.7 million--nearly double last year’s $83 million--includes new funds to expand the program into kindergarten and third grade and a per-student increase to cover a higher percentage of actual costs.

Last year, most of the state’s school districts were forced to deplete general funds to reduce class size, Jones said.

Although state per-student funding for class size reduction will increase from $650 to $800, the district will still come up about $7.9 million short, Jones said.

The Board of Education received the budget Tuesday, and is expected to adopt it next Monday, the deadline for submission to the Los Angeles County office of education.