Inglewood Teachers Rip Plan to Cut Salaries 2.5% : Education: Money would be deducted from three paychecks in a giveback affecting about 1,300 employees.

At a raucous school board meeting this week, more than 250 Inglewood teachers and school employees angrily protested a proposal to cut their annual pay by 2.5%.

The board postponed making a decision after the five-hour public hearing Tuesday night, which had to be moved from the district headquarters to Morningside High School to accommodate the overflow crowd. The board will consider the measure again at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Morningside High.

The school board proposed the pay cut in March after it was directed by the Los Angeles County Office of Education to slash $1.25 million from its budget by June 30. If passed, the pay cut for all school employees would be retroactive to July 1, 1992.

County officials said the cuts were necessary chiefly because of tumbling revenues from property taxes and lower than anticipated student enrollments in Inglewood. Inglewood schools will receive $552,000 less in property tax revenues than expected this year, according to county officials.

The proposal would cut the salaries of about 1,300 employees in the school district, saving an estimated $1.25 million a year. For a teacher earning $30,000 a year, school officials said the cuts would represent a loss of $750 in gross income.

Dozens of schoolteachers and workers opposed the proposal, calling on the top administrators to “cut the fat” before tapping into the wages of teachers and other school workers.

Many speakers accused the board of being shortsighted since its proposal, if approved, would erase a 2% raise received by school employees in October. Before that increase, the last raise school employees received came four years ago following a weeklong strike.

School employees were incensed that the district plans to collect the entire $1.2 million over a three-month period by deducting the money from their paychecks. If a teacher typically earns $30,000 a year, the $750 giveback to the district would be deducted in $250 increments in three consecutive paychecks.

Many teachers complained they already live on strict budgets and say they do not have the money to pay back.

“The board is taking away exactly what was given to me in the raise,” said Lisa Bauer, a third-year elementary teacher. “I will not be able to pay my rent. I didn’t get into teaching for the money, but I may have to leave because of it.”

Inglewood Supt. George McKenna, the chief architect of the proposal, defended the measure. Although regretting the move, McKenna said he believed the proposal represented “the most equitable way” to meet the budget shortfall. McKenna said he “absolutely” opposes any layoffs to remedy their financial woes.

“I am sympathetic to the financial impact on the workers, but what they must understand is California is in a financial crisis.”

David Whittaker, president of the Inglewood Teachers Assn., said a teachers’ strike would be a possibility, if the proposal is approved.

“The teachers are in a total uproar over this,” he said. “A lot of them have talked about striking, but we are trying to be diplomatic. But if they force us to do it, we will.”

State and county budget officials are scheduled to attend the next board meeting to outline the school district’s economic predicament, said McKenna. However the current conflict plays out, McKenna warns more troubles are ahead for the school district.

“The tragedy is next year is going to be worse, getting through 1993-94 will be even harder,” he said.