Rojas Feuds With Calif. Officials Over Funding for San Francisco

By Jessica L. Sandham

Plans by Superintendent Waldemar Rojas to trim some $11 million from the San Francisco district's budget this school year and next have angered state lawmakers.

District leaders say the cuts are needed to avert a budget crisis stemming from a feud with the state over who should pick up the tab for desegregation-related programs. Mr. Rojas contends that California owes the 64,000-student district $18 million for programs that were implemented between 1994 and 1997 as a part of a 1983 desegregation settlement.

State finance officials counter that the reimbursements were eliminated by a state law passed in 1994, and that the district acted irresponsibly by budgeting for money that was not guaranteed. The district's budget this school...