HUNTINGTON BEACH : Ocean View Schools Facing Budget Cuts

Ocean View School District trustees, grappling with a large budget deficit, this week approved a tentative budget that includes $800,000 in spending cuts.

But deep additional cuts still need to be made before the board adopts its final 1990-91 spending plan in September, trustees said.

As proposed, the $37.1-million budget would not result in staff layoffs or reduce the level of direct spending to schools, district officials said. It calls for the district to dip further into its reserves to help offset a total budget deficit estimated at more than $1.3 million. But board members said they will restore those funds by making additional cuts before approving the final plan.

The spending cuts in the tentative package include eliminating several vacant administrative and classified staff positions, canceling some scheduled employee conferences and workshops, and trimming spending for such basic expenses as office supplies.

Additionally, an updated revenue report indicates that the district will collect $250,000 more from the state than originally projected, which also will help bridge the shortfall. The district also will earn $320,000, previously unbudgeted, from the sale and lease of district property near Slater and Springdale avenues that has been developed into a housing tract.

More spending cutbacks need to be made, however, because the proposed budget does not include pay raises for employees, including janitors, secretaries and other office workers, said Supt. Monte McMurray. Those salaries will be negotiated beginning next month.

McMurray warned that the budget proposal is extremely tenuous because district officials must wait to learn how much money the new state budget will allocate for education. The district’s tentative budget is based upon an assumed 3% cost-of-living increase from the state. But if the final adjustment is lower than that projection, board members will have to slash spending even further, McMurray said.

Trustee Elizabeth A. Spurlock was the only board member who did not support the tentative plan. She said that the cuts included in the budget were different from those the board had decided upon a week earlier.

However, she said that she is nonetheless satisfied with the plan. “I’m pleased that the board is looking at making cuts in central administration rather than deficit spending and cutting children’s programs,” Spurlock said Wednesday. “My concern now is that, while we need to make (additional) cuts, in some areas we also need to improve our educational programs.”

Trustee Sheila Marcus disagreed with Spurlock’s assessment, saying that trimming administration spending, in the long run, still impacts the quality of education.

“I don’t think we have any fat in the budget to cut,” Marcus said. “I think we’ve been really lean for a long time now. . . . I’m amazed when I hear people talk about making cuts away from the classroom, because everything in the educational system affects the classroom.”