GLENDALE, BURBANK DISTRICTS FACE CUTS.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

Anticipating multimillion-dollar budget deficits, Glendale and Burbank school districts face the prospect of having to reduce staff and reassign job responsibilities as cost-cutting measures.

The districts' boards of education will determine precisely how many employees will be affected at their respective meetings early this week.

Citing state budget cuts and other factors, Burbank Unified estimates it will have a $1.9 million deficit in fiscal 2002-2003, while Glendale anticipates a $3.8 million deficit.

``What we are going to do is to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,'' Burbank Superintendent Dave Aponik said. ``We will be looking at outside-of-the classroom positions, hopefully not a lot of them, but there will be some.''

Aponik, who was set to meet with the district's Budget Advisory Committee late Friday to develop proposed cuts, declined to speculate on the magnitude of the reductions. He will present recommendations to the board today. He said the district will try to minimize layoffs by reassigning staff.

Vic Pallos, spokesman for the Glendale Unified, said the district will send notifications out to 18 administrators and 63 teacher specialists about potential job reassignments and reduction of work hours, pending a vote by the board Tuesday. The district does not plan any layoffs.

``This could be anywhere from freezing your salary to moving you to a different position,'' Pallos said. ``If you are an assistant principal at an elementary school, you could be reassigned as a teacher. This could be less pay.''

Of the 18 administrators affected, 15 are based out of school sites - predominantly in assistant principal positions. The remainder work at the district headquarters.

The 63 teacher specialists affected provide regular teachers with specialized training on teaching various academic subjects.

Ken Niemeyer, president of the Glendale Teachers Association would not comment on the proposed cuts, other than to say that the union has been working with the district on the issue.

Dennis Jennex, executive director of the Burbank Teachers Association, did not return calls for comment.

The last time either school district laid off employees was in the early 1990s, when California was hit hard by a deep recession. While the state is in yet another recession, neither district expects the cuts will be as severe as last time.

Gov. Gray Davis projects California will face a deficit of $12.5 billion, but others, such as the state's independent legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill, believes the deficit would be a few billion dollars higher.

Under state law, school districts are required to notify credentialed teachers and administrators of possible job changes and eliminations by March 15. They are further required to send another round of letters in June confirming their decisions.

Burbank's Aponik sent out a bulletin warning school employees of coming cuts on Feb. 15.

School officials said it would be difficult to say when exactly the job reassignments and layoffs would take effect given the uncertainties over the state budget.

While the state is technically required to complete the budget in June, local legislators have informed the districts that the process could stretch into September, after the start of school.

``We are really trying to give the district maximum flexibility in doing these notices,'' Pallos said. ``We at this point don't know what the state will come down with.''

In addition to credentialed administrators and teachers, both districts are also expecting to cut support staff, such as custodians and cafeteria workers.

To close the funding gaps, the Glendale Unified School District has already elected to postpone the installation of a six-classroom modular unit at Mountain Avenue Elementary School.

Other proposed cost-cutting measures include reducing allocation for postage, supply and equipment purchases and after-school vehicle security patrol.

At Burbank Unified, similar cost-cutting measures are expected to be put into place, affecting such wide-ranging areas as conference attendance, outside printing, substitute budgets and vehicle replacement.

``(The budget cuts) affect individuals. It's not easy. It's a very, very difficult process,'' Aponik said.