Local 12
A newspaper with issues
WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 15-16, 2008
photo courtesy; governor's office
DEEP CUTS: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday at the Milken Family Foundation released a list of recommendations by a panel of educational experts on how to improve California public schools. The governor has recommended cuttting education spending by $4.3 billion.
School staffing facing major cuts across state FROM CUTS PAGE 3
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placement) classes ... far too many of our resources that we’re going to need — technical education — will not be available.” Schwarzenegger said the “out of whack” state budget necessitates cuts across the board, although he lamented the education reductions. He also said he hoped layoffs would be carried out only under a “worstcase scenario.” Schwarzenegger said he wants to overhaul the budget with the goal of creating a “rainy day fund” whenever there is a surplus to bail out the budget when there is a deficit. According to the California Teachers Association, the proposed cuts would mean the loss of $560 million for the Los Angeles Unified School District through 2008-2009,
equivalent to $946 per student. LAUSD has sent out layoff notices to 3,000 administrative staff members, though none to teachers, according to reports. But hundreds of teachers around the Southland have already received notices that their jobs were in jeopardy — including 400 in the Anaheim and Santa Ana districts and 150 in Inglewood. “School districts up and down this state are sending out pink slips to tens of thousands of hard-working, dedicated teachers, administrators and school staff, not because our state faces a spending problem, but because we face a priorities problem,” O’Connell said. Associated Press contributed to this report. news@smdp.com
Board concerned about infrastructure FROM SCHOOLS PAGE 1
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taken from Lincoln and Malibu’s allocation and be reappropriated to John Adams, somewhat leveling the field. Board member Ralph Mechur said that rather than taking money away from the two other middle schools, $2 million be pulled from the unallocated funds and added to John Adams. The suggestion was supported by board member Maria Leon Vasquez. But the rest of the board said they weren’t comfortable with pulling money from the unallocated pot without having a better understanding of how that money would exactly be used at JAMS. The board instead directed its staff to identify additional areas where JAMS could use money. “As much as I am real concerned about equity, I’m also concerned about allocating monies without any real direction,” Board member Barry Snell said. “I cannot support adding $2 million without any real understanding as to where and why we are allocating.” melodyh@smdp.com
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