Montebello : $115.5-Million School District Budget Approved

The Board of Education of the Montebello Unified School District has approved a $115.5-million budget for the 1988-89 school year that restores some services the district eliminated to reduce spending last year, business manager Stephen Phillips said. It includes raises for district employees raging from 4.5% to 5%.

The spending plan includes $106,000 to partially restore the district’s after-school recreation program for elementary and intermediate school students, Phillips said. The district cut the program last year to save about $250,000. The budget also includes an extra $129,000--$4 per student--to enable schools to buy additional supplies.

The budget anticipates revenues of $111.2 million and expenditures of $115.5 million. The district will draw from $8.5 million in reserves and is projected to finish the year with a surplus of $4.2 million.

The district has frequently dipped into reserves in the last seven years as increasing costs outpace revenues, Phillips said.

Last year, the Board of Education made $7.3 million in cuts before approving the 1987-88 budget. The district spent $109 million and had an income of $106.8 million last year.

Some of the more controversial cuts involved increasing the district’s pupil-teacher ratio in fifth- through eighth-grade classrooms from 31 students per teacher to about 32:1, and eliminating after-school recreation programs.