HUNTINGTON BEACH : School Enrollment on the Plus Side

Early attendance figures this school year indicate that Ocean View School District’s enrollment, which plummeted for 14 years and is blamed for much of the district’s financial woes, is on the rise again, a district official said Thursday.

As of Monday, enrollment at the district’s 17 schools had increased by 131 pupils from this time last year, the largest increase since 1975, said Joseph Condon, assistant superintendent of personnel.

The new figures show an acceleration of a mild upward trend that began last year, which has already enabled the district to hire more teachers and may eventually bring it more state funds, Condon said.

The latest increase is 58 more pupils than had been projected, upon which the district’s 1990-91 budget is based, Condon said. If enrollment remains constant, the district would get $174,000 more in state funds than it had anticipated for next year, he said.

Although the funding increase would have little effect on the district’s budget deficit, which exceeds $1 million, it indicates that its prolonged trend of slipping enrollment--and, consequently, declining state funding--may have ended, Condon said.

Between 1975 and 1988, enrollment plunged from 14,000 to 8,400, forcing school board members to slash spending over the past decade and a half. Attendance finally rose slightly in 1989-90, climbing by 20 students.

Nonetheless, to balance the budget adopted last week, the board withdrew $1.1 million from its reserve fund and made about $1.4 million in cuts.

And, with this year’s improvement, the district for the first time in recent years has been able to hire more teachers, Condon said. In past years, as teachers have retired, the district has not hired replacements.