THOUSAND OAKS : Conejo Schools Face $1-Million Shortfall

The Conejo Valley Board of Education was given bad news Thursday: a $1-million shortfall caused by state budget cuts.

School board member Dolores Didio said the district does not want to cut personnel, so programs--including driver’s training, for the time being--will have to be cut. “This has not been a good year. We plan in a prudent manner and then this happens.”

The district’s 1990-91 expenses are projected at $62 million, with income from various sources at $61 million, Supt. William R. Seaver said. He added that the district has cut $900,000 in expenditures.

The board voted unanimously Thursday night to approve the budget.

The district was recently told that the county can charge it for collecting property taxes, Seaver said. “The estimated cost from the county superintendent’s office is this will cost us about $555,000. We’re going to be hit worse than any school district in the county.”

Seaver said the Simi Valley district, which has a larger student enrollment, will only have to pay $325,000.

The figures are based on county-collected property taxes in each district. The state will continue to provide the district $3,000 per student (part of which represents county taxes), and the new fees will provide the county with money to run its programs, Seaver said.

“I can’t blame the county, but this is getting to be a situation of cannibalism. . . . The irony is that as property values go up, that fee will go up and we will get no more money from the state,” Seaver said.