School Board May Cut 10% From Activities Budget : Education: The Simi Valley district considers a proposal to take money from extracurricular programs to offset a projected $8-million deficit.

The Simi Valley Board of Education was considering late Tuesday a proposal to reduce spending on extracurricular activities by 10% in its continuing effort to offset a projected $8-million budget deficit next year.

It was not clear what athletic programs would be cut as the board labored into the night to find a way to balance its $76-million 1990-91 budget. The board was also expected Tuesday night to vote to join several other school districts in Ventura, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties in protesting the proposed state budget for public education.

According to district officials, the proposed budget would provide each school district with $51 less in state aid for every student.

District officials cite a declining student enrollment, combined with limited state funds and increased labor costs and health benefits, as the main reasons for its financial troubles.

But employees and union representatives accused the board of failing to plan ahead to avoid personnel cuts. “They should have seen this coming, but they continued their spending,” said Hal Vick, executive director of the Simi Valley Educators Assn., which represents the district’s 750 teachers.

Board member Ken Ashton, however, said the district should not be blamed for the layoffs. In an interview before Tuesday’s board meeting, Ashton said the governor’s proposed education budget for next year left the board with no choice but to make the cuts.

“It’s not a problem that the board created,” Ashton said. “We’re looking at some significant cuts in state funds. It’s that simple.”

Still other district officials said the teachers union could have helped offset some of the job losses by sacrificing part of a salary increase due next year under the terms of a three-year contract.

“The union could have been a great help in solving the problem,” Dist. Supt. John Duncan said. “Instead, they chose to be a large part of the problem.”

Duncan added that “these cuts we’ve made have been so painful, if there had been easier cuts we would have made them.”

Earlier this year, the Board of Education authorized the layoffs of 32 temporary teachers and 28 clerical and service employees, which included five of the district’s 10 nurses.

Because the nurses were the only full-time employees targeted for layoffs, their termination was subject to a second review by the Board of Education. After a closed-door session on Monday, the five-member panel announced that the nurses will be let go.

Evangeline Madrid, one of the five nurses who has been retained by the district, said that as a result of the layoffs the district will not be able to meet the health needs of its 18,000 students.

“It’s going to be a nightmare, chaos for our health programs,” Madrid said of the cutbacks. “I don’t feel the board has begun to absorb the impact this is going to have on nurses in the district. The children are going to be the ones who suffer.”

In addition to providing first-aid care, school nurses conduct eye and ear exams and assist those students who are on medication or are physically handicapped. Nurses also are responsible for overseeing health-awareness programs in the classroom. Those programs cover subjects such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome and sexual abuse.

Representatives of the teachers union said they plan to file grievances against the district this week to determine if it is violating any contract obligations by dismissing half of its nursing staff.