By Kathleen Acuff

Funding for library aides next school year will be at 75 percent of the current level unless something happens to save the program - again. PTA presidents, however, have told the Los Altos School District not to expect them to run to the rescue this time.

The PTAs have been making up the difference in funding for library aides to keep the school libraries open. As PTA presidents in the audience nodded emphatically, several speakers told trustees that the PTAs have given libraries all they can for now. Superintendent Marge Gratiot persevered in suggesting that PTAs discuss the possibility when they reconvene next year.

“Everybody’s tapped out,” Almond PTA President Leslie Pinkelman told trustees and staff.

Faced with balancing the budget by the end of the month, district trustees voted 4-0 last week to make the cut to save $15,000. They also agreed to increase facilities use fees to between $55,000 and $100,000. The target is $1.5 million in cuts, down from the $1.6 million reduction recommended by the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance.

To save the district another $600,000, teachers will not receive a cost-of-living adjustment, and they will pay 5 percent of their health insurance premiums next year.

The Los Altos Teachers Association overwhelmingly ratified their tentative contract the day after the board approved its latest round of budget revisions.

LATA President Cathy Gilliard said, “We realize … that this is what needed to be done in order to help the district balance their budget, and we did not want to see cuts in other programs that benefit children.”