Drop in High School Students May Force Layoffs

A continued decline in enrollment is causing major budget problems for the seven high schools in Huntington Beach Union High School District and may require layoffs next year, district board President Bonnie Castrey said Wednesday.

“We’ve told our staff to keep the cuts as far away from the classrooms as possible,” Castrey said. “We’re hoping that retirements and leaves will be sufficient so that we can lower the staff through attrition. But we’re a labor-intensive field, and most of our money is spent on workers. There may have to be some cuts next year.”

The district’s financial problems stem from fewer students attending the high schools. The state gives funding to school districts on the basis of school attendance. This year, the amount of state support (called average daily attendance funds) per student is about $3,000 a day. But with 600 few students enrolled this year, the district faces a loss of $1.8 million in state aid over the entire school year, school officials said.

District Assistant Supt. Lee Eastwood predicted Wednesday that enrollment losses will be even greater in the next three school years. Eastwood said the district now projects a total loss of at least $10 million in state aid by 1990 because of declining enrollment.

“We’re projecting about a 700-800 student decrease in 1987-88; about 1,100 in 1988-89, and about 800 in 1989-90,” Eastwood said.

Eastwood said that of the district’s seven high schools, only Ocean View High in Huntington Beach is showing any enrollment growth. The number of students continues to decline at Edison, Marina, Huntington Beach and Wintersburg Continuation high schools in Huntington Beach, and at Westminster High and Fountain Valley High in those cities.

“The biggest decline is coming at Edison, and that is becoming our smallest high school,” Eastwood said.

Castrey cited two major reasons for the decline in student enrollment: “People aren’t selling their homes and moving out of the district at the rate they used to, and new people moving in often are couples that don’t have children.”

While there has been a “baby boomlet” of sorts in recent years that is now showing up in the first and second grades, Castrey said it will be seven to eight years before the trend will reach the high school level.

The problem in Huntington Beach is not unique. Most coastal and northern Orange County school districts face similar declines in enrollment. By contrast, central and southern Orange County districts, such as Santa Ana Unified and Saddleback Valley Unified, are experiencing significant gains in enrollment.