A.V. SCHOOL OFFICIALS ANALYZE STATE BUDGET CUTS, LOCAL IMPACT.

Byline: Marci Wormser Staff Writer

Antelope Valley school officials say they need to review the details of the state budget cuts Gov. Gray Davis proposed Friday to see how they will affect individual school districts.

Davis has proposed $482 million in mid-year budget cuts for education statewide, far less than what local school officials said they'd feared would be $1.9 billion in cuts, but local officials said Friday they are not sure what they will need to cut out of their own budgets to make up the shortfall.

``It's going to get to the classroom,'' Palmdale School District Superintendent Nancy Smith said. ``We've been trying to keep cuts away from the classroom, but this is the third year we're into the millions of dollars we're going to cut. We've cut all the fat and some of the meat and now we're going to the bone.''

Local school officials they will analyze how the proposed cuts will affect them and discuss ways to reduce their budgets next week.

Smith said she thinks the Palmdale district will be required to cut $3 million to $4 million mid-year and another $3 million to $4 million next year. The school superintendent said she fears that the state's funding cuts will force the district to cut staff and programs next year.

Mike Wagenleitner, Eastside Union School District's assistant superintendent of business services, said he expects Eastside will have to cut between $450,000 and $750,000 out of the 2002-03 school year budget.

``What we heard (before Friday) was $1.9 billion,'' Wagenleitner said. ``We don't know how the additional money will affect us. We're looking at everything across the board. That's a lot of money.''

The proposed cuts were less than expected but they may not hurt any less, because the sting is contingent upon how the cuts are administered and what categories they will affect, Wagenleitner said.

Davis' proposal calls for $4.5 billion in reduced state funding for education this year and next. He also proposes creating a $270 million block grant - 11 percent less over a one-year period than officials had hoped - to replace 64 ``categorical'' funds, which now can be spent only on specified programs, and giving local school boards control on how to spend it.

The governor also proposed suspending a state requirement that schools keep a reserve fund of at least 3 percent of their general fund budget for emergencies. He also proposed giving schools nothing in the 2003-04 school year for a cost-of-living adjustment.

However, not all of Davis' proposals were bad news for schools.

Davis said he wants to uphold Proposition 98, which mandates that California public schools get 40 percent of state funds, and that he would like to equalize funding among school districts.

He also said he supports continuing to provide money based on average daily attendance, or ADA, which means schools get more money as enrollment grows.

Palmdale School District Superintendent Nancy Smith said she was glad her district could receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in equalization funding and will continue to receive ADA funds if Davis' proposal comes to fruition.

``At the rate we grow, we'd be in real trouble in we got no ADA,'' she said.

However, she said, the extra funds will not make up for the cuts.

``We won't get as much equalization (funding) as we have budget cuts,'' she said.

Palmdale School District spokesman Isaac Barcelona said he believes lumping the categorial funds into one sum will subject local school boards to intense lobbying from people wanting to save one program or another.

``That's going to create some political monsters,'' Barcelona said.

Antelope Valley Union High School District's board president, Jim Lott, thinks otherwise.

``I wouldn't assume that politics would take over,'' he said. ``I would like to think education would come first.''

Jeffery Foster, assistant superintendent of administrative services at the high school district, said that local control over the funds will enable school boards to determine their needs. They can move funds slated for one category to another, something not possible before.

Davis' proposal to let districts reduce their emergency reserves concerns some officials.

``(The reserve) is one-time money,'' Barcelona said. ``Once you spend it, it's gone. What are you going to do if you have an emergency?''

Barcelona said he would be more in favor of maintaining a 0.05 percent to 1 percent reserve funds.

Lott and Foster agree with Barcelona's assessment.

``That's dangerous,'' Lott said of the reserve fund suspension. ``There's nothing for contingency.''

Lott said that while he would agree to dipping into his district's reserve fund if it were necessary, he would make that option a last resort.

``It would be very imprudent to drop too far below (the 3 percent),'' Foster said.

Foster said he was also concerned about Davis' proposal to give no cost-of-living increase. Traditionally, schools are given a 2-to-3 percent COLA to keep up with inflation, he said.

Davis' budget for next year, which will be released in May, will probably cost the high school district some program and staff cuts, Foster said.