10,000 Teachers Would Lose Jobs Under Prop. 187, District Says : Education: Enforcement of initiative might result in closure of Birmingham High, Slavkin says. LAUSD's projected losses are raised to $628 million.

By BETH SHUSTER

Oct. 22, 1994 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

VAN NUYS — Los Angeles Unified School District officials predicted Friday that 10,000 teachers would lose their jobs and some campuses would be closed if Proposition 187 passes and is enforced.

Board of Education President Mark Slavkin warned that schools and students throughout the sprawling district would be affected by the passage of Proposition 187 and that the system stands to lose up to $628 million in federal funds.

“This is very real for all students,” Slavkin said. “Citizen children . . . will be hurt by a loss of funds. There is no surplus, no savings, no extra money generated for schools to use.”

The ballot measure would deny many public services, including education and non-emergency medical care, to illegal immigrants. While school officials said they are unsure how many of the district’s 636,400 students are undocumented, Slavkin said the number could be as high as 100,000.

The U. S. Department of Education has threatened to withhold funds from state school districts if the measure is approved because it would require officials to violate federal privacy laws.

An Education Department spokeswoman said Friday that she does not know when the money would be withheld and that questions remain about how students’ immigration status would be determined.

Under the measure, schools would be required to verify students’ legal status and ultimately to report illegal students and their parents to authorities. The Board of Education has voted to oppose the measure and expects to join in legal challenges if it is approved.

Supporters of Proposition 187 said they believe the measure would save the school system money because there would be fewer students to educate. They dispute the district’s figures.

“More political rhetoric,” said Ron Prince, the Orange County-based campaign chairman. “The state of California is not going to lose any federal funds. . . . Any conflict will be resolved by the courts.”

Last month, Slavkin estimated district losses at $450 million in federal funding. But at the Friday news conference at Hazeltine Avenue Elementary School in Van Nuys, he said a closer analysis has raised the projection to $628 million.

Slavkin predicted that campuses on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley would be likely targets for closure. Many of these schools receive students from overcrowded campuses in heavily immigrant neighborhoods and are more likely to be undocumented, officials explained.

Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, for instance, has just 954 students living in the area, while another 1,510 are bused, Slavkin said.

“It would be very difficult to keep Birmingham open if the out-of-area students are lost to the school,” Slavkin said.

It is not known which campuses would face potential closure, district officials said.

The $628 million in estimated federal funds is spread over a variety of accounts, including $166 million for cafeteria services and $132 million in so-called compensatory education money used to aid mostly poor, minority students.

The funds are distributed to about 400 of the district’s 650 campuses, and schools are able to spend the money on programs to help disadvantaged students. At Hazeltine, for example, the money has been used for a computer lab, among other things.

The money also pays the salaries of the 10,000 teachers who could lose their jobs under the measure, district officials said.

Officials added that the federal funds do not cover the costs of all their programs for needy students. The district spends nearly $200 million of its general fund money to help pay for programs such as special education and bilingual classes.

They argue that even if there are no undocumented students in the district, there will still be poor and disadvantaged students to educate. But with federal funds cut off, they will have to rely even more heavily on their general fund for special programs.

“We are not fully compensated, but $628 million helps,” Slavkin said. “Without federal funds, I think we’d be worse off.”

Federal Fund Cutoff Threatened

The following San Fernando Valley public schools stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensatory education funds if Proposition 187 is approved and implemented, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District. The U. S. Department of Education has said it would withhold funding from school districts in the state because it believes that the measure is unconstitutional. The compensatory funds are used on a discretionary basis by schools to pay for programs and salaries to support mostly poor and disadvantaged students.

Elementary schools

Arminta: $310,805

Bassett: $297,999

Broadous: $378,001

Burbank: $161,197

Burton: $175,092

Camellia: $349,724

Canoga Park: $331,628

Cohasset: $220,938

Coldwater Canyon: $392,532

El Dorado: $219,465

Erwin: $256,783