LBUSD prepared for spending cuts

Laguna Beach Unified School District will see a loss of $48,540 for the 2013-14 school year due to federal spending cuts that took effect Friday, according to a district official.

The figure is 5.1% of the total federal money the district receives, said Dean West, Laguna Beach Unified’s assistant superintendent of business services.

The shortfall should not result in any layoffs and would impact programs under the No Child Left Behind Act, such as Title 1 programs, which focus on English-language learners.

West said in an email that the district has 100 English-language learners who are supported by other means.

“We are a district that identifies and corrects the problem as soon as possible,” West said of English-language learners. “Students don’t stay in that status for very long.”

In the 2011-12 school year, Laguna Beach Unified had 21 English-language learners in fifth grade compared to three in grade 12, according to the California Department of Education website. The education department reported 130,076 English learners in Orange County during the 2011-12 school year.

Most of the federal money goes toward schools with economic need, West said.

“We’re not going to let a small cut affect a program’s delivery,” he said.

Laguna Beach Unified’s operational budget for the 2013-14 school year is $42.8 million, West said.

—Bryce Alderton