LOS ALAMITOS : District Says Despite Bond Issue, It’s short

Despite recent voter approval of a $13-million bond issue to maintain schools, officials in the Los Alamitos Unified School District say they need more money.

One option under consideration in the 5,700-student school system is developing two of the district’s five campuses that have been closed because of declining enrollment.

A recent district study found that the public may not support such a move because voters just approved a $13-million bond issue earlier this month. The study showed that residents want schools preserved--not developed.

Virginia Wilson, president of the school board, said the district needs to tap new revenues or make further budget cuts. The district has sliced about $2 million from its budget in the last three years.

The reason is a chronic shortfall in state funding. For the third straight year, state funding for the district is not expected to keep pace with inflation. The district now receives about $3,343 per student each year. District officials say they need an increase of $150 per student next year to maintain program levels. But the district expects to receive only $60 more per student.

The annual statewide average for funding is about $2,824 per student.

Ron Murrey, the district’s director of business and support services, said Los Alamitos schools receive more per student because of funding bonuses the district started receiving when the city’s elementary and high school systems unified in the early 1980s. Murrey said that to bring the district’s student funding in line with the state average, state officials have been cutting the district’s allocation in recent years.

The five sites that may be developed include three parcels in Rossmoor, each about 10 acres, one 10-acre site in Los Alamitos, and a 22-acre site, also in Los Alamitos.

The district now leases out four of the sites; the fifth one is used for district offices. The three Rossmoor sites are leased to a church school, a day-care center and the Long Beach Unified School District, and each generates about $65,000 a year in revenue. The 22-acre Los Alamitos site is leased to McDonnell Douglas for $333,000 a year.