LAUSD budget crisis remains severe, fiscal experts say, as district works to calm fears

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Set us as preferred With Los Angeles public schools opening Wednesday, district leaders are downplaying fears that a looming budget crisis could lead to a county takeover, as they navigate a mandate to move forward with plans to cut thousand of jobs, pressure employees to accept unpaid furlough days and close an unspecified number of school buildings or campuses.Those cuts are mainly backloaded — the vast majority don’t take effect this year — allowing Supt.

Andrés E.Chait to pledge a turmoil-free opening of school.

Meanwhile, county officials have stepped back — for now — from earlier threats to intervene and possibly force more immediate budget cuts upon the nation’s second-largest school system.“I want to give the opening of schools the space that it deserves,” Chait said, “but of course, behind the scenes, folks are already working.”“Our focus is on the schoolhouse,” Chait added.

“Our focus is on maintaining, to the maximum extent possible, stability at the schools.We have been through challenging times before...

and we made it through.We can do it again.”After reviewing the board-approved June budget, both county and state officials confirmed that Los Angeles Unified met the technical requirements of a 45-day deadline to adjust its budget to account for new costs added by major labor agreements — giving the district some breathing room to plan its cuts.

County and state fiscal oversight agencies insist that nothing has changed in their deep and long-term concerns about whether Los Angeles Unified has the means and the will to remain solvent over the next three years.“It is a serious situation,” said Michael Fine, chief executive of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team or FCMAT, which works with county officials to make sure that school districts do not go bank...