School Budget Slashed by $275,000 : Education: Two teaching posts, the head groundskeeper’s job and the supplies budget are cut. More trims could come if state funding drops.

Culver City schools will have larger classes, messier school grounds, and fewer pens and pencils as a result of $275,000 in cuts included in a final budget passed by the school board Tuesday night.

The reductions in spending seem tame compared to last year’s unprecedented $2 million in cuts, but administrators fear that a stingy state budget could worsen the picture.

“We have no choice but to wait and adjust accordingly,” Supt. Curtis Rethmeyer said.

The $15.8-million spending plan for the 1992-93 school year, passed unanimously by the five-member Culver City Unified School District Board of Education, eliminates five positions, including two teaching posts.

The loss of one teaching position at the high school level and one at the middle school level will increase average class size, now 31 students, by about one student.

No teachers were laid off. The posts were vacated by attrition, Rethmeyer said. Educational programs remained intact.

The account for supplies was cut by 10% in all departments, saving the district $38,000. Eliminating the head groundskeeper position saved $35,000. A custodial post and a clerical post in the district offices were also cut.

Budgets for the purchasing department and the high school counseling department were cut by $20,000 and $16,000 respectively. The cut will eliminate one of three counselors at the high school.

On a good note, the reserve fund edged up to 2.7% of expenditures, or $585,567, district Finance Officer Jim Crawford said. The state mandates the reserve to be 3%.

About 100 more students than expected enrolled in the district last fall, causing the surge in the reserve fund. Enrollment for the 1991-92 school year was 4,531, and it is expected to increase by about 20 students this fall.

Board member Madeline Ehrlich advocated dipping into reserves to avoid some of the cuts, but she agreed to wait until more is known about state funding before taking action to reinstate cuts.

High school senior Kevin Knopf urged board members to reinstate a nutrition period at the high school, saying he missed the opportunity to develop relationships with other students. The period was cut last year because it was too expensive to provide food services.

Teacher’s union representative Bess Doerr urged board members to avoid freezing or cutting teacher’s salaries if state funding falls below last year’s level. The 1992-93 budget assumes the same level of funding.

Doerr said students need individualized attention more than ever, yet teachers must struggle to pick up the slack left by other teachers, counselors and nurses who have been let go.

“We’re doing lice checks,” she said. “Our workloads have shot right off the charts.”