Davis Restores Some Funds, but Schools Still Face Deep Cuts

Davis increased primary and secondary school funding for next year by $403 million over his January budget proposal and paid particular attention to such issues as keeping class sizes small in lower grades and helping special education.

Spending per student for next year would be $6,869, an increase of $161 or 2%, from his January plan.

Even after those adjustments, however, California's primary and secondary schools still face $1.5 billion in reductions in the next academic year and are contemplating such unpleasant steps as laying off teachers and administrators, dropping enrichment classes and boosting the number of children in classes, especially in upper grades.

Districts faced a deadline today to send out layoff notices to teachers, even if some of those are rescinded later.

"We're going to be hit by a 15-ton truck instead of a 20-ton truck. The cuts are still going to be huge," said Supt. Jim Fleming of Capistrano Unified, an Orange County district that is still planning to send out layoff notices to 117 teachers despite the funding change. "This is not pulling education out of the fire."

Los Angeles Unified Supt. Roy Romer welcomed Davis' funding increases, but said the extra money will provide only a modest boost for his district, which is looking at deep administrative cuts and other reductions to avoid teacher layoffs. "We still have a very steep hill to climb," Romer said. "It may be a little less steep based on what the governor did."

Davis restored $180 million to keep no more than 20 students in kindergarten through third-grade classes in a popular program that is voluntary for school districts. That was a key goal for the California Teachers Assn. union.

Still, some districts said they are planning to eliminate those smaller classes in some grades -- third grade in Capistrano -- because they can't afford to pay their share.

In March, districts put as many as 30,000 teachers statewide on notice that they could lose their jobs next year. Even before Wednesday's new financial figures, the number of teacher layoffs was expected to shrink considerably as a result of other belt tightening.