ORANGE : School District Plans to Trim $3.3 Million

The Orange Unified School District is expected to announce a plan next week to cut $3.3 million from its $103-million budget, in part by layoffs.

“The (budget) problem is monstrous,and there is no win-win solution,” one Orange Unified official said.

Officials would not comment on the number of layoffs planned until after Monday, when meetings are planned with the teachers and classified-employee unions. Al Irish, the newly elected school board president, said that so far no teacher layoffs are planned.

However, $1 million worth of cuts in personnel, benefits and other areas must be implemented this fiscal year, Irish said. This means that classified layoffs may begin as soon as April 1, according to one district official. Management and other positions could be affected by July 1.

The cuts have been expected for months in the sprawling district, which serves more than 24,000 students. In November, district administrators moved to lay off 79 classified workers, a proposal that would have saved $1.2 million in one year. The layoffs were postponed after parents and teachers protested the loss of such school personnel as health clerks.

Now, district officials say layoffs and other measures are necessary because of reductions in state funding, a $1.1-million decrease in revenue from the state lottery, and imposition of a $571,000 county fee for processing property taxes.

So far, the district is trying to keep the cuts from affecting the classroom, and to preserve school programs and most services.

“The attitude of our board over the past year has been one of concern for the children,” said Irish, who has three sons in district schools. “We have tried to look at a reduction package that will least affect the child in the classroom.”

In addition to trimming $1 million in costs of personnel and other areas, tentative recommendations from a board subcommittee include a proposal to borrow $1 million from the district’s reserve fund, which would be repaid through other budget reductions over an undetermined period, Irish said.

The remaining $1.3 million could be temporarily drawn from the district’s fixed asset monies, funds derived from the sale or lease of district-owned property. Cuts in other operational expenses, such as personnel, would eliminate the need to repay this fund over the next few years, one district official said.

A board subcommittee on the budget crisis is scheduled to confer with school personnel Monday and will present its proposal to the public at a meeting at 7 that evening in the Little Theater of Orange High School, 525 N. Shaffer St.