City Council OKs $900,000 for Renovations at Schools

BURBANK —  Searching for new ways to help cash-strapped public schools, the Burbank City Council has agreed to provide at least $900,000 in additional money for building renovations but cut $4,800 in car allowances for school board members.

Burbank Unified School District Supt. David Aponik said Thursday he was thankful for the extra funds. Yet he warned that the district may have to make up for the trustees’ lost benefits by shifting money away from classroom supplies and new computers for students, among other things.

“The City Council has obviously demonstrated its commitment to the youth of Burbank. To gain $900,000 on one hand and possibly lose [up to $28,800] on the other is certainly a good deal for us.”

The minimum of $900,000 in new funding is in addition to the $23 million the City Council promised earlier to repair and renovate Burbank’s public schools.

Vice Mayor Susan Spanos said the city is not yet sure how it will come up with the $900,000, but that redevelopment funds and surplus sewer charges are possible sources.

Before the passage of the city’s 1995-96 budget Tuesday night, when funding for the school board’s car allowances was officially eliminated, council members also expressed interest in cutting $24,000 in annual salaries for the trustees.

But the council backed away from doing so this year because the school district has already passed its own annual budget.

“It’s quite one thing to be paying for the capital improvements of the school district and quite another to be paying for the salaries of school district employees,” Spanos said.

“Car allowances, I think, could be considered somewhat frivolous for the city to be paying and I would agree with that. I would prefer we didn’t pay for the salaries. That makes them [school board members] de facto employees of the city, and I would prefer to cut those ties.”

The City Council will reconsider eliminating the board’s salaries from the city’s budget next year, Spanos added.

The district’s five school board members are paid $400 a month and receive monthly car allowances of between $75 and $100.