Brown Asks Clinton to Provide Federal Funds for L.A. Schools

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown is appealing to President Clinton’s top economic and education advisers to provide more than $50 million in federal funds to the financially beleaguered Los Angeles Unified School District.

Brown wants the giant school district to be included in a massive federal pilot program he has proposed for South Los Angeles that would feature economic and social programs already embraced by the President.

School board President Leticia Quezada said Brown’s proposal could help the district meet its commitment to reduce teachers’ salary cuts, although a Brown aide said the Speaker views it more as a component of his overall revitalization plan.

Despite an unprecedented 10% salary reduction that resulted from “extremely difficult contract negotiations” between the teachers union and the district, Brown told Clinton Administration officials that the district “still faces a difficult time meeting the educational service needs of the the Los Angeles community.”

In a memo Monday to Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Brown urged the officials to target $50 million for job training and meeting some of the educational needs of poor children in urban Los Angeles.

In addition, he has requested an unspecified amount of money from the secretary of education to help pay for the high costs of educating mentally and physically disabled youths. While federal laws mandate that disabled children receive public education, the federal government pays for only about 10% of their special schooling needs.

“To the extent that these funds are made available I would request that the district be given maximum flexibility in the manner in which they are used,” Brown said in the memo.

According to Brown, three Clinton Administration officials have enthusiastically received Brown’s overall proposal to turn South Los Angeles into a pilot project for economic recovery programs, but it is unclear whether Congress wants to pump large amounts of money into one area.

Quezada said the Brown initiative is extremely significant and, if successful, could go a long way toward helping to relieve the district’s financial difficulties, including the cost of reducing teachers’ cumulative pay cuts from 12% to 10%.

“This is the first major example of the kind of thing he is willing to do to help us fulfill our agreement” with United Teachers-Los Angeles, she said.

Under a contract settlement forged by Brown, the district will pay $36 million out of its state-mandated emergency reserve fund to restore part of the teachers’ lost salaries this year. The district intends to seek state waivers to raid restricted funds, including money for textbooks and school supplies, to pay the contract settlement next year.

Richard Simpson, Brown’s chief education deputy, said Tuesday that the Speaker is not seeking the federal funds as a way out of the waivers. Brown pledged to use his influence to help the district obtain whatever state measures were needed to make the contract work. “This is a separable issue from the waiver question,” Simpson said.

The waiver issue, however, has become tangled in controversy, with some state legislators and educational officials saying that it would set a bad precedent and may be illegal.

If additional federal funds are allocated for special education programs--which cost the district about $150 million a year--general fund money would be freed to reduce employee layoffs or program cuts, Quezada said.

In anticipation of another wrenching 1993-94 budget process, the district sent notices last month to 1,800 administrators advising them that they may be reassigned or laid off next year. An additional 727 notices will be sent to librarians, elementary school music teachers, counselors and nurses on Monday.

Such early notification is required under state law. The school board will make decisions on layoffs during its budget hearings.