Plea in Cambodian Sways Board on Bilingual Funds

Buddhist monk Un Sok spoke eloquently Tuesday--in his native Cambodian--to the San Diego city board of education in protest of projected budget cuts for bilingual education, human relations and other programs.

But it was left to Sothy Lach, an eighth-grader from Wilson Middle School, to demonstrate the benefits of the district’s bilingual program as he translated the elderly man’s remarks into clear, concise English.

The appearance of Un Sok and Sothy Lach before the board Tuesday was indicative of the diversity of the nearly 200 speakers who packed the board chambers to protest the $10.5 million in budget cuts--particularly in special education, second-language and counseling programs--the board proposes to make in next year’s budget. Longtime school administrators said it was the largest turnout for a school board meeting in their memory.

In response to public pressure during the three budget hearings so far, the board has restored funds to some programs about which large numbers of speakers testified.

On Tuesday, the board decided to restore, at a cost of $82,000, two of the five bilingual resource teaching positions it had proposed eliminating. Those teachers train others in teaching English as a second language, for students whose first languages include Spanish, Laotian and Vietnamese. Board members indicated that the amount restored to the budget for the language instruction might be increased next week during a final budget vote, using $16,000 cut from sports budgets.

The board also decided Tuesday to restore 5 of 11 teaching positions in instrumental music courses in elementary schools that it had proposed eliminating. There was a strong outpouring of support for that program at the hearing Monday.

In restoring about $300,000 to the language and music programs, the board decided to eliminate its reserve for unexpected costs. It had already taken $700,000 from a reserve originally planned at $1 million to restore portions of programs for gifted children, minor sports and elementary school libraries. Supporters of those programs packed a public hearing last week.

However, the board indicated Tuesday that it would make few changes in the 2.8% cuts planned for the $60-million special education budget.

Despite the board’s turning to reserves to restore parts of many programs, its decisions to do so have created divisions among parents and other supporters.

“My 4-year-old son has Down’s syndrome and without the (special education) help, he has no chance for a decent life,” said Yoshiko Smith in arguing for increases in funding. “I’d say cut all extracurricular activities first.”

Gus Chavez of San Diego State University, reflecting the sentiments of many, said that cuts in second-language and race relations programs primarily affect minority students, who represent 53% of the 115,000 students in the district. “You select a few (8,000) students with (the gifted program) and you know what that means for the rest of us,” he said.

Speaker after speaker urged the board to muster resistance in Sacramento to Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed budget, which projects almost no increase in education funding despite inflation and an increasing school-age population.

With the Deukmejian proposal, the district would be $10.5 million short of the amount needed to continue programs at present funding levels. The total budget required is $433 million. Because the proposed budget could result in layoffs, the board must vote on a budget by March 15 in order to meet requirements for sending out layoff notices.