As Funds Dry Up, Schools Made to Steer Rocky Course : Education: The superintendent of the Burbank system insists that Californians should repeal some or all of Proposition 13’s tax limitations.

With financial problems hammering educational systems across California, school administrators in the San Fernando Valley are looking for new ways to save money or get some more.

An administrator in the West Valley wants to remove public education from the state, saying local government could bail out the schools with taxes and bond issues.

A few miles east, in Burbank, the head of that city’s schools insists that Californians should repeal some or all of Proposition 13, which was approved in 1978.

“Frankly, the state is not raising enough income to support any of its public services,” said Arthur Pierce, superintendent of the Burbank Unified School District. “Proposition 13 has put the limits on our ability to raise public funds, which is going to mean less and less public service until that changes.”

Such a change would be drastic. But these are drastic times.

While the massive Los Angeles Unified School District must slash $88 million from its budget by June because of declining revenues, smaller school districts in the San Fernando Valley area find themselves similarly scrambling to make ends meet.

At Joe Walker Middle School in Quartz Hill, the budget crisis means that teacher Karen Scaggs probably won’t be able to afford new textbooks for all the students in next fall’s social studies class. Instead of giving a book to each of her eighth-graders, she’ll probably purchase a single set that will remain in the classroom to be used by several classes.

“If there isn’t a book at home, you can’t assign much homework,” Scaggs said. “Parents get very upset. For teachers, it makes it hard to feel good about what you’re teaching the kids.”

The Las Virgenes Unified School District, headquartered in Westlake Village, has already stopped paying its employees overtime and won’t be hiring any more teachers. Such measures mean that students, who have yet to be directly affected by budget concerns, will soon feel the crunch.

Donald Zimring, an assistant superintendent, explained: “Larger classes, less service.”

In Burbank, the district has formed several study committees that will meet with the school board this week. Pierce said he expects to cut 8% of next year’s budget and perhaps institute emergency cuts this school year.

The funding that flows into schools has dried up in a number of cases. Most recently, Gov. Pete Wilson announced that public schools would lose about $2 billion in state funding over the next 18 months.

Wilson suspended Proposition 98, the 1988 ballot measure that guaranteed schools about 40% of the state’s general fund. He also announced a statewide cost-of-living increase of 3%, much lower than the 4.76% that schools had hoped for and, in some cases, budgeted.

Meanwhile, schools were previously told to expect a certain amount of income from the California Lottery, but ticket sales are down and the money has come up short. Some schools use lottery income for special programs or additional textbooks. Others depend on the money to pay staff salaries.

At the Glendale Unified School District, for example, administrators anticipated $170 of lottery income per student. The actual amount looks to be $120.

Other sources of income have also shrunk. Because of the housing slump, schools aren’t receiving the fees that developers pay when they start construction on, say, a new residential tract. The state has also reduced its funding for high school driver’s education.

“We’re really hard-pressed,” said William Maddigan, fiscal director for the William S. Hart Union High School District, which has three high schools and three junior high schools in the Santa Clarita Valley. The district is short $2 million on its 1990-91 budget. “We have enough in reserves to make it through the year. But next year is going to be touch-and-go.”

Perhaps hardest hit are the small school districts, such as Eastside Union, which operates three elementary schools in Lancaster.

“We don’t have any high-tech programs to cut. We don’t have large computer labs or large physical education programs. We don’t have any of the frills that big school districts have,” said a district official who asked for anonymity. “We’re looking to cut people and supplies, the essentials of education.”

Teachers, however, are not yet endangered. Administrators say that if they have to lay off staff, the first hit would be teacher’s aides, custodians and groundskeepers.

As for materials, some districts have already imposed spending freezes. The Antelope Valley Union High School District, with five schools and 11,000 students, has given teachers one week to order whatever they’ll need for the remainder of the year.

Other districts that have traditionally kept three years’ worth of supplies in their warehouses are down to eight months’ worth of such essentials as pencils, paper and crayons. And, administrators say, schools will have less money to buy textbooks.

“I’ve been in this district for 18 years,” the Eastside Union official said. “This is as grim as I have ever seen it.”

Not all school districts are suffering equally.

In Glendale, the schools have been dipping into their large savings account. Enrollment in Glendale has grown steadily over the last five years, so the schools received additional state funds. Some of that money was saved for a rainy day.

“We’ve been spending our reserve,” said Victor Pallos, a district spokesman.

A number of districts, especially in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, continue to enroll new students and receive additional state funds.

But even these districts are cinching their belts. Palmdale will soon convert at least five more elementary schools to a year-round schedule to save money.

“Next year is going to be a lot tighter,” said Nancy Smith, an assistant superintendent for the district.

That may be an understatement. School administrators fear that they won’t receive any cost-of-living raises in 1992. Districts that have been spending their savings will be that much closer to depleting reserves.

In Northern California, a state legislator has sponsored a bill to provide $29 million in emergency funding for one of his school districts. But no one expects the Legislature to bail out schools across the state.

“I never want to say never, but it looks pretty bleak,” said Bill Whiteneck, chief consultant for the state Senate Education Committee.

Yet educators see glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, hopes that something--even something drastic--will be done to save their schools.

“The democratic process has a wonderful way of correcting mistakes,” Pierce, of the Burbank district, said. “But I suspect things will get worse before they get better.”