Despite Budget Cuts, Inglewood Schools Still $675,000 in Debt

Despite painful budget cuts of more than $3 million already made, the Inglewood school district must trim about $675,000 more from its final budget, due in September.

Reductions in the tentative budget submitted to county education officials June 30 were made in such haste and disarray that some were based on faulty calculations and others have proved impossible to make, district officials conceded this week.

The remaining deficit was made public by school board member Zyra McCloud on Monday as she met with employees and members of the community to review the budget. Administrators had discovered the $674,496 deficit, she said, while reviewing cuts they thought had left a surplus of about $300,000.

The district has been in turmoil since a board meeting June 27 when McCloud and board member Caroline Coleman eliminated the jobs of Assistant Supt. Vashti Roberts, who was serving as acting superintendent, and other central office employees. The two board members made those reductions, worth $300,000, as the last in a series of cutbacks of personnel, supplies and programs totaling more than $3 million.

Challenged Legality

Board President Lois Hill-Hale has angrily challenged the legality of that final $300,000 in cuts as well as the appointment, also on June 27, of elementary education coordinator Lynn Colvin as interim superintendent.

The 5-member board functioned with only three members until Larry Aubry was sworn in last week. The remaining vacancy will be filled in November.

McCloud defended the board’s actions Monday at the first of a series of budget meetings she has scheduled with an ad-hoc “advisory team.” Former board members and employees said it was unusual for an individual board member to hold such forums.

“I want to make sure we are working together,” McCloud told the gathering of about 20 people. “We are still looking at close to $700,000 worth of cuts that we have to make.”

‘False Data’

When asked how there could still be a deficit, McCloud said: “The budget could not be balanced because a lot of the information we were given was based on false data. Either there were oversights or (administrators) just did not bring some information to our attention.”

District officials said McCloud’s figures were about right but declined to discuss specifics this week. Supt. Colvin said her staff is trying to establish the exact amount of the deficit. She said she would comment further at next Monday’s board meeting.

Accounting Manager John Scharf said some of the hasty reductions made last month have proved “unfeasible.”

“Certain things just can’t be done,” Scharf said. “And other expenses are popping up.”

For example, McCloud said the board approved what was thought to be a $232,000 saving by increasing the teaching load of some secondary school teachers from four to five periods. But officials overestimated how much money this move would save, she said. Similarly, officials did not account for $167,000 in vacation benefits for employees who were told to work one month less a year, McCloud said.

McCloud also cited a $100,000 rise in dental insurance premiums and “impossible” cuts, such as eliminating a $29,000 custodian that which would have left an elementary school with no custodian. In addition, several employees’ salaries were not included in the budget calculations, she said.

McCloud said she received this information at a budget meeting with administrators last week.

Jerry Norman, who resigned as district business manager earlier this year but is being paid $65 per hour as a budget consultant, said Tuesday that he had just been informed about the new deficit and does not know how it came about.

But he said part of the problem was that some cuts recommended by different board members and groups of employees during hectic budget deliberations last month overlapped.

Some employees said they are mystified by McCloud’s decision to hold public meetings on her own while administrators are still reviewing the budget. McCloud has been criticized in the past for interfering with administrators and overstepping her role as a board member.

“People are wondering what the hell’s going on,” one source said, adding that McCloud is behaving as if “she’s a full-fledged administrator.”

McCloud responded by saying that it is her right as a board member to keep the public informed, especially in a time of crisis.

“I have promised I would be acountable to the community,” she said.

Invited Too Late

Aubry also expressed misgivings. He praised McCloud’s efforts to clarify the budget situation but said he would have liked to receive the information she presented before the public received it. He said he was invited to Monday’s meeting too late to attend.

Aubry said he was worried that people would incorrectly consider McCloud’s meetings, which are being held in the board room, as “board sanctioned.”

“This is one board member acting on her own,” he said.

Hill-Hale and Coleman were out of town and could not be reached for comment.

42ND DISTRICT SPENDING REPORT

Here are the top spenders in the 42nd Congressional District primary, the amounts they spent and their campaigns’ current debts.

Amount Spent * Outstanding Debt 42ND DISTRICT Republicans Harriett M. Wieder $ 440,294 $ 40,000 Stephen Horn $ 273,367 $ 30,500 Dana Rohrabacher $ 266,238 $106,680 Democrats Guy Kimbrough Less than $10,000 not available

* Including loans

Source: Federal Election Commission reports, interviews