SANTA ANA : School Board Sets Bare-Bones Budget

Faced with cutbacks in key state funding sources, the Santa Ana Unified School District’s Board of Education unanimously adopted a bare-bones $196.5-million budget for the 1990-91 school year.

The final budget, approved by the board Tuesday, reflected state reductions in cost-of-living funds and year-round school incentive money as well as the outright elimination of state funding of driver training programs, said Robert Giritz, district controller.

Budget trimming is nothing new for the district this year. In May, the school board approved $3.1 million in cuts, which eliminated 23 night-custodian positions and several other classified positions. The district has also been forced to spend less on supplies, books and equipment. The board cut an additional $528,000 in August.

This year’s budget leaves the district with a $2.6-million contingency, far below the $3.8 million in reserves recommended for a district the size of Santa Ana, which is the ninth largest school district in the state.

As a result of the round of cuts, the district will be getting about $2.3 million less in cost-of-living money than it did last year, despite a record projected enrollment of 44,929 students this year.

The district will also be receiving less incentive money for its year-round schools. Last year, Santa Ana received about $2 million for operating 11 schools on a year-round calendar. This year, the district is expected to get only $300,000--even though it will be operating 13 such schools.

District officials are hopeful, however, that new legislation pending in Sacramento will increase year-round funding by anywhere from $1 million to $2 million, Giritz said.

Although state funding for Santa Ana’s driver training programs has dried up completely, district officials plan to make up the $100,000 cost of the program out of other revenue sources.