County OKs Raises for Nonteaching District Staff

County education officials have authorized the Inglewood Unified School District to move ahead with the long-delayed raises for nonteaching employees and informed district officials that its financial situation has improved.

Ken Shelton, assistant superintendent of business services for the county office of education, told district officials Monday night that the county has completed an audit of the district’s books and expects to approve the district’s 1996-97 budget in the next few weeks.

Shelton said the audit found that the district was $315,000 short in its account for the average daily attendance fund.

He said the audit also found that the district had the state-required 3% reserve that was one of the central questions of the audit. The county has instructed the district to make improvements in its business office to better manage its funds.

As a result of the audit findings, the county told board members to move forward with plans to give nonteaching employees a 6% raise.

The raise has been delayed since December because the nonteaching staff and school board disagreed on the amount. Although they reached an agreement on 6% in April, the raises were stalled when the county appointed a fiscal advisor and began an audit of the district’s finances.

“We’re pleased that the money has been released but dissatisfied with the amount of time we’ve had to wait,” said Chris Graeber, a spokesman for the union that represents the nonteaching staff. “We’ve been stuck in the middle of political football game.”