ARE THERE TOO MANY CHIEFS IN LAUSD? REPORT FINDS INCREASE IN BUREAUCRATIC STAFF.

Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer

As Los Angeles Unified teachers clash with the district over demands for a 9 percent pay hike, figures obtained Tuesday show bureaucracy at the district has grown 12 percent over the past six years despite declining numbers of students and educators.

More than 680 administrators and supervisors have been added at the district since fiscal 2001, as teachers have dropped about 2 percent, to 37,858. Enrollment has dropped from 717,871 to 708,461 this year, according to the data.

Meanwhile, in the latest salvo in the increasingly contentious contract talks, United Teachers Los Angeles was set to release a report today that it says indicates a bloated bureaucracy has kept teachers' compensation packages stagnant while salaries have lost ground to inflation.

The report -- commissioned by the district and union to assess whether the LAUSD spends too much on bureaucracy -- draws no conclusions and makes no recommendations.

District officials counter that the report actually reflects a cash-strapped system that might need to curtail teacher hiring if enrollment continues to drop.

``We have a lean bureaucracy. Anybody who says, `all you need is to whack bureaucrats to pay for (a raise)', it's not true. We've been sparing in how we add people,'' said Superintendent Roy Romer.

Romer said the study provides a statistical and analytical background but does not support the union's contention of overstaffing at the top.

Romer also defended staffing, saying much of the bureaucracy's growth has been ``supervisory employees'' needed for the district's $19.2 billion building program and conversion to digital technologies.

``We can cut down the line,'' Romer said. ``This is an egg going through a snake -- it's going to pass.''

But UTLA President A.J. Duffy, who has hired former UTLA President Wayne Johnson to help mobilize for a strike if pay demands are not met, argues that the report points to an ``overblown'' bureaucracy.

Duffy called for much of the administration -- working in the LAUSD's downtown headquarters or in mini-district offices -- to be dismantled and employees reassigned to classrooms or regional resource centers that support schools.

``Here's the bottom line: The money belongs at the school site and there should be reasonable raises for people doing the job -- and my teachers are doing that job,'' he said. ``We want the money.''

Teacher compensation

Teachers' salaries and benefits account for about $3 billion of the LAUSD's $5.7 billion general fund.

Kevin Reed, LAUSD chief counsel, said a 9 percent pay raise for teachers would equate to about $360 million, or nearly the entire $400 million spent on a bureaucracy of 6,394 positions.

``If you cut the bureaucracy and do the math, there'd be no one left in the district to print the checks or sign them. It's a misguided notion they have,'' Reed said.

The dispute escalated as Duffy and incoming Superintendent David Brewer III met for the first time Wednesday night.

Brewer, who has indicated he will not shy away from layoffs, said he told Duffy that he has worked well with unions in the past.

``I respect what he and the teachers are doing,'' Brewer said. ``I also told him that I am not in a position at this point to negotiate. I'm not officially on the job and I told him I am going to need some time to understand the issues and all that is involved.''

For his part, Duffy said he was impressed with the new superintendent.

``He seems to me like a straight shooter,'' he said. ``My board is very eager to sit down with him and he agreed to that. He also agreed to my giving him the A.J. Duffy tour of the schools. I want to take him to the best schools, the ones with challenges and the ones where the teachers make a difference.''

While the report to be released today does not reach conclusions on whether the district is top-heavy, it does track LAUSD measures such as teacher compensation over the past five years.

Among its findings:

Teacher compensation packages have kept pace with inflation -- increasing from $74,200 in 2001 to $75,300 in 2006. Adjusted for inflation, however, salaries dipped 4.6 percent, to $58,100.

About 82 percent of operating dollars has been spent on employees' salaries and benefits in the past six years.

The largest increase in employees -- 400 percent -- was among coaches, with 877 positions added.

The largest staffing decreases were among elementary school teachers, teaching assistants, food service workers and classroom aides.

Teachers with less than three years' service declined from 17 percent to 10 percent of the employee pool.

Chicago Public Schools, which is similar in size and per-pupil spending, spends a greater percentage of its budget on teachers than the LAUSD.

Student-teacher ratios went from 18.4:1 in 2001 to 18.1:1 in 2006.

LAUSD officials, however, said the report's salary figures are skewed because they fail to reflect a salary increase of 11.2 percent in fiscal 2001.

Duffy said the union expects support from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is poised to gain more influence over the district under legislation that takes effect Jan. 1.

Mayor's response

Mayoral spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said Villaraigosa has not taken a position on the UTLA salary demands.

But in a statement issued Wednesday, Villaraigosa said: ``Teachers should be well-respected, well-paid and resources need to be spent in our classrooms, not on the central bureaucracy.''

Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report.

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