Four years ago the Los Angeles County Unified School District's board of education voted to extend health care benefits to part-time cafeteria workers after two new board members elected with union support provided the key votes to pass the benefit. At the time the board admitted it didn't have the $20 million or so a year that the new benefit would cost, but board members urged district Superintendent David L. Brewer to find the extra dollars by "cutting out the fat" in the district's operation.
Since then, California's housing bubble has burst and its economy has gone south, so that the Los Angeles schools have faced a series of budget crises, including an estimated $400 million deficit this year. The district has paid for the added health benefits using a $60 million reserve fund that is exhausted, and it now has to ante up some $20 million a year to pay for the added benefits. The good news is that the part-time workers have benefits. The bad news is that there is fewer of them. Facing a budget crunch exacerbated by the health care costs, the schools system has laid off hundreds of cafeteria workers as part of an overall reduction in its staff of some 2,000 jobs.
The health benefits perk has cost the reserve fund more than the district anticipated because so many workers took advantage of it. Before the new benefit, some 44 percent of part-time workers had health care options from other sources. But the vast majority switched to the school system's health care plan, draining the reserves.
The health benefits perk has cost the reserve fund more than the district anticipated because so many workers took advantage of it. Before the new benefit, some 44 percent of part-time workers had health care options from other sources. But the vast majority switched to the school system's health care plan, draining the reserves.
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