LAUSD PLAN WOULD SLASH 50 POSITIONS BOARD APPROVES CUTS IN 41 BUDGET AREAS.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Unified school board approved a provisional plan Tuesday that would eliminate at least 50 jobs - including those of teachers, nurses and clerical workers - to help close a $167.6 million shortfall in its 2005-06 budget.

Large chunks of savings will come from cutting $20 million in workers' compensation contributions and spending $29.2 million in undesignated money left from the first half of 2004-05.

The fiscal recovery plan was required by the Los Angeles County Office of Education as a prerequisite for the district to maintain its ``positive'' financial certification.

Without the plan, the Los Angeles Unified School District would have been required to submit its first-ever ``qualified'' certification, which could lower its credit rating and increase its borrowing costs.

``This is a very serious day,'' Superintendent Roy Romer said. ``We had a lot of trouble putting this list together. Nobody wanted to do this.''

The cuts hit 41 separate budget areas and each one was voted on by the seven-member board, which approved them by a narrow majority in many cases.

The proposed cuts are not final because the district isn't expected to adopt its 2005-06 budget until the summer. But given the district's financial difficulties, Romer said some of the cuts seemed certain to be permanent.

After more than two hours of hand-wringing, the board majority voted on all of Romer's proposed cuts with the exception of a $2.1 million savings from the police force, which members removed from the list of cuts before voting. The savings would have eliminated nine jobs in the police department and shifted some officers to parking enforcement duties to generate extra revenue from tickets.

The cuts include $839,000 in savings from eliminating preschool aides' meals; a $1.2 million reduction in local district money and $800,000 in savings from the elimination of some health and human service workers.

Other job cuts include: one nurse, two nursing coordinators, 1.5 optometrist positions, one school physician and two pupil and attendance counseling posts.

In addition, $7 million would be saved from shifting some textbook costs and $4.5 million by delaying expansion of arts programs.

Also, class size at magnet schools could increase, agencies could be charged to use district facilities and funding for a pregnant students program could be slashed.

Board member David Tokofsky, who voted against the cuts, said there was no reason for the district to rush to list the specific cuts. The district should have submitted a ``qualified'' certification and taken its time to make these decisions.

``I believe (in) the qualified rating and not smoking some hemp and saying everything is OK here in L.A,'' he said.

Board member Marlene Canter also voted against all 41 items. ``I've agonized over this,'' she said. ``We don't know ... how it's going to impact our kids, how it's going to impact our employees and how it's going to impact our school sites.''

Romer said the LAUSD is in a severe budget crisis that's forced more than $1 billion in cuts over the past few years.

``It's serious and it's not just something that's flippant,'' he said. ``It's not cast in stone, but it's not plastic.''

Some union leaders were struggling to understand what the proposed cuts would mean to employees. The list was released to some leaders Friday and updated Monday, giving the public little time to digest the information.

``It's not enough detail,'' said Alicia Loncar of Service Employees International Union Local 99, which represents 38,000 Los Angeles public school cafeteria, custodial and other workers. ``We cannot judge how these cuts are going to impact our members ... This wasn't enough time.''

Board members Jose Huizar, Jon Lauritzen and Julie Korenstein voted for all the items. ``I still believe we have to make the tough decisions,'' Huizar said.

``I've seen some proposals to raise class size and to (put employees on) furloughs. What I see here today are a lot more efficiencies.''

Board members Mike Lansing and Marguerite LaMotte voted for the bulk of the items, but pulled out specific cuts that they were uncomfortable with, including cuts to arts programs and one-time cuts that wouldn't reduce the deficit-spending problem.

``I think we're all in a very uncomfortable position right now,'' LaMotte said. ``There are things here I know I can't accept.''

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: LAUSD

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