School Board Ends Tiff Over Surplus, OKs Programs

LOS ANGELES — The L.A. Unified Board of Education ended a two-month tug-of-war over a budget surplus Tuesday, approving the last items on a list of $64 million in new programs recommended by Supt. Ruben Zacarias.

In contentious meetings since November, the board has approved pieces of the plan, including teacher and administrator training, tutoring for failing students, library books and technology initiatives.

Four of the seven board members, however, balked at committing all the money while the district was considering whether to open negotiations with employee unions, which are demanding a 4% pay raise. Negotiations began earlier this month.

Although Zacarias had anticipated further delays, the four members who had been holding out yielded with little comment Tuesday, approving the remaining $14 million. The items approved included staffing for class-size reduction, training for non-teaching staff and a textbook management system.

Board president Victoria Castro, who had supported the spending plan from the outset, said she thought the four members were finally swayed by the report of a team of accountants who identified about $30 million in the district budget that could be shifted into salaries. That would pay for a raise of slightly more than 1%.