TOUGH SCHOOL CUTS PLANNED AFTER TAPPING INTO RESERVES, DISTRICT WOULD STILL NEED TO TRIM ITS BUDGET.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

The Glendale Unified School District might be forced to tap into its reserves and make millions of dollars in cuts to its budget for the next three years in order to survive the state's fiscal crisis.

On Tuesday, the school board considered a proposal to offset the projected $8.2 million deficit in 2004-05, $11 million in 2005-06 and $14 million in 2006-07 by using $3.1 million from district reserves for the next two years and $2.1 million the third year.

``If we tap into reserves, it reduces the reductions that need to be made,'' said Steve Hodgson, chief business and financial officer for the district. ``It's not a long-term strategy.''

The state requires school districts to maintain reserves that are 3 percent of the district's entire budget to have a buffer in case of emergencies. Glendale schools, with a budget of about $210 million, ended last year with about a 9 percent reserve after making a concerted effort to make cuts and increase the fund in anticipation of difficult years ahead.

Since about 85 percent of the district's budget is spent on personnel costs, including salaries and benefits, officials said there really isn't much choice but to affect staffing - but that every effort will be made to shield classroom teachers.

``There will be districtwide impact that will indirectly impact classrooms,'' Hodgson said. For example, if cuts are made to the maintenance department, classrooms could be cleaned three times a week as opposed to every night. ``We're trying to keep as much of that impact away from the classrooms as we can this round. We can't make reductions of this magnitude without reducing staff. There are no other ways.''

The staff proposal does include $1.15 million in reductions for the 2005 and 2006 school years - cuts that have yet to be determined.

``Arguably, it will have an impact on personnel,'' Hodgson said.

The proposal includes further reducing ongoing expenditures in the district office by about $350,000 for three years. Last year, the district reduced positions and did not refill vacancies. Also, the operations department - including maintenance, grounds, custodial - would be reduced by $750,000 for three years.

Also the option being presented by the staff does not include entirely eliminating the class-size reduction program, which calls for 20 students per teacher from kindergarten to third grade.

Rather, the district would be able to save about $400,000 each year by maintaining the same ratio for half the school day only for kindergarten, or eliminating class-size reduction in kindergarten altogether.

If the board approves the proposal, district staffers would have to come back with a plan to achieve the set targets.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released the state budget Friday, he recommended a 1.84 percent cost-of-living increase to schools, which would translate into about $2.4 million in additional revenue for the Glendale district.

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com