School Board Trims 8 Days From Calendar

The Los Angeles school board narrowly approved a plan Monday to cut eight days off the spring semester--a move that allows employees stung by deep pay cuts to collect special unemployment benefits for those days.

Board critics said the plan, which compensates for the shortened semester by tacking on about 30 minutes to the school day, will harm the quality of education and bring havoc to families who must now scramble at the last minute to alter their own schedules. Supporters, however, said the change is a significant move to ease labor tension by helping employees gain back a small portion of lost salaries.

By a 4-3 vote, the board extended spring vacation by six days and decided to begin summer break two days earlier at almost all district schools. The dates vary depending on each school’s calendar, but most schools will be affected in late March or early April. School officials said they will inform parents about the specific changes by the end of this week.

“I feel it is a sacrifice we are all making to alleviate the pain all employees are going through,” said school board member Julie Korenstein, who supported the plan. “This is the first step toward holding the district together.”

School board President Leticia Quezada sharply criticized the plan and said the narrow margin of approval bodes ill for the board’s public image at a time when its decisions on budget practices and labor relations are being criticized by many. School board members Roberta Weintraub and Mark Slavkin also opposed the plan. The change will save the district only about $800,000.

“I tell you this will make no sense to parents,” Quezada said. “It will show this board doesn’t know what it is doing at a difficult time.”

The mammoth district has been buffeted by both financial and labor crises for months as it grapples with the aftermath of an unprecedented $400-million budget shortfall. All employees have suffered salary cuts ranging from 6.5% to 11.5%. The teachers union is threatening to strike Feb. 22 over the salary and benefit cuts and what they say is district mismanagement.

In the first financial report of the school year, Robert Booker, chief business and financial officer, said Monday that the district’s $3.9-billion budget is in the black by $7.4 million. If state funding is not reduced at midyear and budget cuts produce the expected savings, “we do not anticipate a shortfall,” he said.

Last year at this time, the district was jolted by a report from Booker that projected an unexpected $130-million midyear deficit. He said Monday that the board’s budget decisions and better communication within the finance office have made for more confident projections.

“At this point we believe that the budget is balanced and will be so for the continuation of the year,” Booker said, adding that the threat of district insolvency was removed when the teachers union lost a court battle to halt $163 million in salary cuts.

The pay reductions prompted the board to adopt the shortened calendar on Monday, although it discussed the issue last summer and received a state waiver in early October to make the change.

The majority of the board agreed that since employees have been getting paid less, they should have to work fewer days.

Under the plan, the eight days are considered unpaid furlough days so that employees can apply for the state’s “workshare” program. The program provides up to $47 a day to workers who are furloughed for short periods of time, rather than laid off, district information said. Payments are drawn from funds contributed by school districts statewide.

Each application will be evaluated by the state to determine whether an employee is eligible to receive the benefit. Issues such as overtime pay and income from second jobs may affect the benefit.

A key to the plan was endorsement of the workshare program by United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein. She signed an agreement with the district that would permit union employees to apply for the benefit.

However, Bernstein stressed that she has not agreed to the salary cuts and is opposed to the calendar changes. Although the calendar is shortened, the instructional minutes during the semester stay the same and teachers will work longer days.