Budget in Los Angeles would Eliminate Many Jobs

The Board of Education for the city of Los Angeles recently approved a budget that was considered to be a worst case scenario. The plan that will be set would actually eliminate tons of jobs, putting many people out of work. Aside from eliminating over a thousand positions, the adult schools would also be closed and many of the different activities that take place after school would be eliminated as well.

In the meantime, the Superintendent John Deasy talked about a different type of deficit, one that would help to create millions of dollars of funding and keep some of those programs alive instead of having them eliminated. He hopes that even though this budget would eliminate positions, there is still some hope there.

Steve Zimmer, one of the board members, says that the new budget makes it clear that there are many dangers up ahead. He says, however, that there is still hope. In the meantime, Deasy said he did not want to rely just on hope and that he wanted to plan instead.

The completed plan for this budget has to be finished by the end of June, on the 30^th of June. The entire school district for Los Angeles is currently dealing with a lot of pressure, especially since the budget will be so tight and cuts will need to be made. Many are scrambling as they are unsure what the future will hold, especially when it comes to the proposed budget cuts.

Deasy says that while his plan is not as bad as the other proposed plan, he admits that the proposed budget he came up with is not actually a solution that would last for the long term and he says that the school district needs to take a look at the finances for years to come. He believes that the system also needs to be run more efficiently than before.

Just a month ago, the school board had delayed voting for the budget plan that had many of the same cuts, which would help to keep up with a decline of about $557 million. However, Deasy and his staff, along with the union, which is full of employees, want to avoid major cuts as much as they possibly can. With the plan that recently approved earlier on this week, nearly 2,000 teachers and other school employees, including administrators, would lose their jobs. Programs designed for mentally gifted students would also no longer be available, along with many academic programs. This will obviously not only affect the staff members of the school district but it will also have an effect on the students. One parent, Lydia Grant, argued that she believes many of the necessary programs for students were going to be eliminated and that the district does not always keep its promises.