IRVINE : School District Faces Shortfall

Because of Gov. George Deukmejian’s recent cuts from the state budget, the Irvine Unified School District faces losing about $1.3 million for the coming school year, Deputy Supt. Paul H. Reed told board members this week. The district can probably weather the loss during the 1990-91 school year by dipping into reserves, but the board should be prepared to cut between $3 million and $4 million from the budget for the 1991-92 school year, Reed said.

The state budget cuts come at a bad time for the district, Supt. David E. Brown said. The district already had to cut about $2 million for this year because enrollment is not increasing at the rate it had been. With funding from the state shrinking, the cuts for next year might be “devastating,” Brown said.

Board member Greg Smith said the district should consider cutting the expected $1.27 million shortfall from this year’s budget to lessen the impact next year.

But Reed said making major cuts from this year’s budget would be nearly impossible because employee contracts and programs are in place. “It is highly unlikely you can cut $1.27 million this time of year,” he said. “It may not be possible even on a 5-0 vote.”

Reed said he will make recommendations on some possible cuts from this year’s budget to the board later this month.

Irvine Unified’s problem is not unique. Hundreds of school districts across the state are scrambling to make up for expected shortfalls from the state.

State legislation guarantees a fixed level of funding for schools. The governor, however, set aside part of the money in a special reserve fund, Reed said. That means, Reed said, that the money will eventually go to the schools but that the Legislature may decide that it can only be allocated for, say, a specific purpose such as hiring teachers to cut down on class size, rather than being made available to the school districts to use as they see fit.

“It’s highly unlikely, without some legislative change, that we will see (the money) this year,” Reed said.

There is a “glimmer” of hope the Legislature will vote to release the money for general spending, Brown said. After visiting Sacramento earlier this week to lobby state legislators, however, Brown said, he is not optimistic that will happen.