20 TEACHER AIDES FACE LAYOFFS IN LA CANADA.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

LA CANADA - Faced with an estimated $1.2 million in state budget cuts, the La Canada Unified School District will lay off 20 teacher's aides July 1 to save $350,000, Superintendent Sue Leabo said Thursday.

``We simply know that we are going to have to make reductions, and this is our best guess as to the amount that will have to be made,'' Leabo said. ``We wanted to give every employee who is impacted as much lead time as possible.''

The cuts target part-time aides in special education and programs for students speaking or learning English as a second language.

Members of the California School Employees Association and the La Canada Teachers Association were upset that the board authorized the cuts so far in advance of a final state budget announcement.

``If you're making budget cuts, you should have a better idea of what the budget is going to look like. And you don't know that until the state gets done fooling around,'' said Mary Jane Hufstedler, president of the teachers association.

The state Legislature and governor - struggling with an estimated $35 billion deficit - could take until September to finalize a budget, officials said.

In addition to laying off aides, Leabo said administrative costs will be cut and some unfilled teaching positions will be left vacant. No accredited teachers will be laid off, Leabo said.