CLASS-SIZE PLAN QUESTIONED : GOVERNOR CATCHES SCHOOL BUDGETS SHORT.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Local superintendents reacted with apprehension Monday toward Gov. Pete Wilson's recent proposal to add $488 million to the 1997-98 state budget, to further expand class-size reduction in public schools.

Today, in his State of the State Address, Wilson will outline his plan to widen the scope of the program that cut the number of first- and second-grade students to 20 per class. Last summer, when the program was first announced, the state budget set aside $771 million to make classrooms less crowded in first and second grades.

Wilson announced the $488 million proposal last Thursday during a visit to a Long Beach elementary school. The intent of the added funding is to allow public schools to decrease class size in kindergarten and third grades, while maintaining the 20-to-1 ratio in first and second grades.

But the superintendents of the Castaic, Newhall, Saugus and Sulphur Springs elementary school districts all said the costs of hiring new teachers and buying portable classrooms wasn't fully covered by the state's class-size reduction funding - and districts were forced to make up the difference out of their general funds.

Expanding the program to four grade levels, the superintendents said, means their districts will have to scrounge up even more funds to pay for the smaller classes - and that's money they don't have.

The state provided $650 per child per year to help public schools pay for cutting their class sizes to 20 kids per teacher; the superintendents said the actual cost is about $800 or $900 per child per year. On average, California public school classrooms have had about 30 students each.

Sulphur Springs Superintendent Robert Nolet said state funds covered about 80 percent of the cost of the class-size reduction.

``We're putting in about 20 cents on the dollar,'' Nolet said. ``I'm pretty sure that (state officials) knew all along that ($650 per child) wasn't the amount that was needed to cover the cost,'' he said.

Saugus Superintendent Joseph Fazio said he and his staff are compiling figures on the financial impact of class-size reduction. He will present those statistics to the school board at its Jan. 17 meeting.

Saugus cut first- and second-grade class sizes for the 1996-97 school year.

``We know that there's a deficit, and we believe that it's going to be a very sizable deficit,'' Fazio said. ``Before we go forward with funding additional class-size reductions, we should fully fund the . . . grades that were initially proposed,'' he said.

``We knew at the outset that this program was underfunded,'' Fazio added. ``But the parents in the community certainly let the principals know this is something they wanted for their children,'' he said.

``I think it's going to cost us, minimally, $900 (per child per year) to fund this program,'' Fazio said.

To pay for class-size reduction, other programs are being funded at their bare-minimum levels - whatever state and federal funds are earmarked to them, with no supplements from the school district budget, Fazio said.

Examples of these are the Gifted and Talented Education and school improvement programs, both paid for by the state, and a pair of federal government-supported programs for low-income children who are underachieving in school, he said.

By law, school districts can't spend more than their income and have to maintain reserve savings of 3 percent of their budget, Fazio noted.

Newhall Superintendent J. Michael McGrath estimated the 20 percent deficit applied to his school district.

``The cost of the teacher and the teacher's benefits - the $650 per child per year pays for 80 percent of that cost in our district,'' McGrath said.

On top of that, the state is reimbursing school districts $25,000 for each portable classroom they have to install to meet the need for more space - the actual cost of buying the temporary building, furnishing it and hooking up the utilities is twice that sum, McGrath said.

``They will give you $25,000 for every portable that you acquire for class-size reduction. The real cost . . . is $50,000,'' McGrath said.

``My druthers, in terms of class-size reduction, is I think it's a great idea, but I think the state should pay for it,'' McGrath said. ``We have to juggle class-size reduction and (continued) enrollment growth.''

The Newhall School District, he noted, has about 5,600 students in kindergarten through sixth grade and is operating on a budget of about $25 million this year.

Castaic Superintendent Alan Nishino said he is happy Wilson is committed to the idea of more individualized attention for each student in the classroom.

``Our hope is that the governor, instead of adding another grade level, fully funds the (others),'' Nishino said.

``Many districts are already taking a lot of money out of their general funds to support what they have now.''

Castaic, which has 1,935 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, chose to reduce class size only in first grade this year, Nishino said. Next year, it will implement the program in second grade.

``We are running out of space to put the children,'' he said.

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Photo

Photo: (color) A third-grade class at Valley View Elementary School in Canyon Country has two teachers who break the class into 20-pupil sections.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News