Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines Monday reiterated his warning of further cuts while the union representing its teachers asked to review the district’s financial records.

“We’ve already received a notice from the governor’s office that there’s probably going to be another hit to the budget after the first of the year,” Cortines said. “That will be in addition to this. This is real.

“I just think that we have to make payroll. I don’t think any of us want the district to be taken over, to go into receivership.”

United Teachers Los Angeles officials said they want to review the district’s financial records and information on “all programs and purchases and justification for their existence, in the face of this fiscal crisis.”

Cortines told union officials last week that all employees must accept furloughs and pay cuts this year and next, or the district will be forced to lay off as many as 8,500 employees,

Cortines also warned of layoffs earlier this year, with 8,846 district teachers, counselors and other certified employees receiving layoff notices in March, but all but 337 either continued to work with the district or were registered as day-to-day substitute teachers.

The district largely avoided layoffs then because of federal economic stimulus funding and early retirement packages.

Maintaining the latest proposals for layoffs would be “devastating to the quality of education” United Teachers Los Angeles officials said and pay cuts would also be damaging and would throw their members “into financial crisis.”

Other funding alternatives, such as a parcel tax, should be considered before pay cuts and furloughs are implemented, according to the teachers union.

Service Employees International Union Local 99 and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles said they were open to discuss the concessions.

In a letter sent to union leaders Friday, Cortines called the situation “the worst budget crisis in years” and urged all bargaining units to cooperate.

All of the district’s eight employee unions would have to agree to concessions before Dec. 8, when the district is supposed to submit a balanced three-year budget to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

An SEIU representative said about 500 custodial jobs were cut this year.
Earlier this year, the LAUSD eliminated more than 5,000 positions — 2,000 teachers, 400 counselors and an estimated 2,800 nonteaching jobs to cover a $596 million deficit. But, thanks in part to federal economic stimulus funding, many of those workers were rehired as other employees took an early retirement incentive package.

No unions made concessions for the current school year.

Next year, the district projected that it would need to eliminate full-day kindergarten and all arts and music programs to close a projected budget deficit of $1.1 billion through 2012, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The four furlough days that officials are asking for this year would cover an existing deficit of between $50 million and $60 million this year, district officials told the newspaper.

The 12 percent pay cut would cover the $480 million deficit projected for next year — one that Cortines and other officials said could grow even bigger.