Supt. Ramon Cortines speaks in E.R. on LAUSD budget crisis

Ramon Cortines made a special appearance in Eagle Rock last night to a packed auditorium at Dahlia Heights Elementary School. The superintendent was accompanied by Yolie Flores Aguilar and other LAUSD higher-end staffers who presented a picture of extreme changes and belt tightening, and describing the past efforts done in anticipation of this funding cutback, with the further effects that can be expected.

Supt. Cortines said this is not a temporary condition and severe impact will continue, causing changes through 2010. In terms of possible solutions, he told the parents that they need to be the ones who contact as many of their elected representatives by all means they can find for support of funding to the district. The crowd was largely a combination of teachers and parents of the local school.

Supt. Cortines was unable to give the exact range of changes that would be required until the budget numbers are settled upon by the legislature and Governor. The state does not yet have a budget settled upon. He did say that he would expect to be able to make a report on projected changes at the end of March. One of the cost cutting steps to be done was to take in Supt. Alonso's sub-district office and house it at the Beaudry H.Q. of the District.

Among cutbacks affected are use of non-LAUSD consultants, usage of out of school sites for professional development and reduction of the buy-back days for professional development. Teachers to be laid off would not be determined until much later when numbers are settled upon, and there would be more cutbacks in administration, with teachers primarily assigned to Beaudry offices to be sent to the classroom. The overall picture would be also affected by the bumping rights of employees, with seniority to others who may be assigned to schools. Classroom size increase is one of the primary concerns that Mr. Cortines discussed and he assured the audience that the children are the priority.

There was some hostility shown in the comments of one attendee who suggested particular action at one school where she said space was given away to charters school use. Supt. Cortines reminded her that there was an order from a settlement in court that provided for charter schools to be allowed certain space in school facilities. He corrected the woman who said it should not go to private use, saying that charter schools ARE public schools and the district must abide by the terms specified in the settlement, done before he was handling matters.

Mr. Cortines said that there would be another school district sponsored tax initiative authored that could possibly qualify for the November 2009 elections, raising the state sales tax for application to classroom and teacher needs only, in contrast to other funds that never do reach the announced targets. A sizeable number of signatures would be needed to qualify it for the ballot. Mr. Cortines also mentioned that the District was trying to sell its bond as authorized by voters but it was a difficult job as the financial situation of the district was so unsettled.

Among other things brought up was that teachers who were on probationary status, that is without sufficient job-time in, mostly applying to those working in a credential program, would be the first ones affected if a layoff were to occur. Notices advising of potential layoff would be sent out in anticipation of that need to layoff to fulfill the legal requirements before a layoff can happen.

One woman, speaking in Spanish, went into a non-stop, lengthy question at a rapid pace that quickly went beyond the ability of the interpreter to precisely re-state the question in English, and Mr. Cortines apologized for himself as not speaking Spanish. He said that interpreters definitely would have to be among those retained.

A member of the audience, possibly a teacher, challenged Mr. Cortines to himself take a pay cut to help the budget situation. The superintendent told the woman, who was apparently unaware of the terms of his employment contract that were announced when he succeeded Adm. David Brewer, that he DID have a pay cut back from the amount OFFERED to him. Mr. Cortines added that he was taking the promotion, but keeping the same salary he had in his old Asst. Supt. position. He continued, saying that there was no $45,000 expense account or $3,000 monthly housing allowance among other things he's paid, as his predecessor was allowed. The exchange was friendly and all were amused at this time, bringing the meeting to a conclusion for the moment.

Supt. Cortines responded to an audience member coming from another school, concerned about information that school community would not received, but Cortines replied that he would go to any school that wanted him to speak about this.

There were a few pages of papers distributed to the audience by the District representative setting up the facility for the meeting with the district position stated as far as possible, and additional materials from the PTA were distributed that included a summary of the changes facing the schools and the suggestions and alternatives that parents could apply as measures in working on retaining the most as possible in the budget outcome by demonstrating outside of schools before and after class are in session.