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.”…