School Board, in Welcome Change, Gets Fatter Budget

In its first glimpse of next year’s budget, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday reviewed a $5.3-billion spending plan, lifted to unprecedented levels by California’s economic recovery.

And, when updated state budget estimates are released later this week, funding for the Los Angeles Unified School District is expected to grow.

Although the budget--up from $4.9 billion last year--allows the district some breathing room for the first time in nearly a decade, administrators cautioned school board members against a spending spree.

“While we’re doing better, we’re not doing that well,” said Supt. Sid Thompson. School board proposals for increasing teacher training, raising salaries and building new schools all have merit, Thompson said, but he added: “You’re going to be torn because you’ll want to do all of those.”

Several additions to the budget this year cost more than they bring in. There will be 13,000 more students, increasing enrollment to 681,000 and bringing in more revenue, but the district needs to find a place to put them.

The statewide effort to reduce class size in kindergarten through third grade--which also carries additional funding--puts more strain on classroom space.

Furthermore, some portions of the budget increase are reserved for particular uses, such as the first $359 million expected from the $2.4-billion Proposition BB approved by voters last month.

All of the bond proceeds must go toward school repair and construction and the purchase of computers.

Gov. Pete Wilson promised over the weekend to help more schools decrease class size, pledging $1.5 million to support the initiative during the coming year.

But in a crowded district like Los Angeles, the level of reimbursement would be far below costs.

Adding the portable classrooms needed to take on the overflow from smaller classes costs the district an estimated $1,118 per student, said Henry Jones, the district’s chief financial officer. Wilson’s latest proposal would increase state funding from $666 to about $800 per student.

Uncredentialed teachers have been hired in droves to fill the openings created by class-size reduction, leading some board members to advocate that additional revenues be spent on teacher training.

In the past year, half of the 4,400 new Los Angeles Unified teachers lacked teaching credentials.

“Before just grabbing at the pot to fund 100 different initiatives, we should look at teacher preparation,” said board member Mark Slavkin.

“Otherwise, it’s like running fast to stay in one place--if there’s not [teacher] quality there, I don’t expect us to post [student] achievement gains.”

Board member David Tokofsky, who for the second consecutive year criticized the budget’s format for being divided into vague categories and programs instead of tangible targets--teachers, books, buildings--recommended that the district use its windfall to build numerous kindergarten through third grade “primary centers.”

Such small schools can be built relatively quickly and cheaply, he said, and solve many of the crowding problems.

Advised that such a financing decision might prevent the expansion of other programs, such as teacher training, Tokofsky said: “I’m in favor of getting kindergartners off the buses before I do staff development.”