Santa Paula Schools Expect to Finish the Year in the Black : Education: The elementary district thought that it would not have enough money to pay its bills. But it could wind up with a $10,000 excess. A spending freeze helps curb the projected losses.

Santa Paula Elementary School District officials, who advised the state last fall that they might not be able to meet financial obligations this school year, predicted Monday that the district will end the year with a little extra money.

In a financial report to be presented to the school board Thursday, it is estimated that the district--which has a $14.4-million 1990-91 budget--will end the year about $10,000 in the black, Assistant Supt. Randall Chase said.

The district completed the last school year with an ending balance of about $400,000, officials said.

Last fall’s estimate that the 3,200-student district would not have enough money to pay its bills was based primarily on a decrease in cost-of-living funds given schools statewide, declining revenue from the California Lottery and a $35,000 bill from the county for collection of the district’s property taxes, Chase said.

The district’s loss of revenue from the lottery, which has incurred a decline in ticket sales statewide, amounts to more than $200,000 this year, Chase said.

The county’s bill is under dispute. The Santa Paula district has joined other districts in a class-action suit against the state, which authorizes counties to charge a fee for collecting taxes for school districts.

Since the report last fall to the Ventura County superintendent of schools office and the state Department of Education, the district has taken steps to offset the projected losses, including freezing spending except in programs mandated by the state, such as migrant education.

The district has not filled several job openings, including more than 20 part-time jobs in which high school students worked after school helping to clean campuses, Chase said.

“Given the best estimate right now, we will make it,” Chase said. “But we’re going to be real tight.”

Even if the district is able to meet its commitments this school year, it still faces a projected revenue shortfall in the 1991-92 school year of $500,000 to $600,000.

In an effort to cope with that deficit, the district has notified eight teachers that they could be laid off. The board is scheduled to decide Thursday whether to send notices to another four teachers by Friday, the state-imposed deadline for termination notices for the upcoming year.

The Santa Paula district could lose additional revenue next year because a large number of students whose parents have lost jobs because of the drought and recent freeze might be forced to leave the area, Chase said. State funding is based partially on the average number of students enrolled daily.

Robert Smith, assistant county school superintendent, said county school officials met last month with Santa Paula school officials and with union leaders to help find ways to balance the district’s budget. The meetings will continue monthly, he said.

Statewide, offices of county school superintendents advise school districts that have indicated that they might become financially insolvent.

Although it did not appear on a recent list of financially troubled school districts distributed by the state education department, one other district in the county, Oxnard’s Ocean View Elementary, indicated last fall that it might have trouble making ends meet this year.

In a report to the county school superintendent, Ocean View officials projected a $75,000 deficit for this year and said they might not be able to finish the year without borrowing money, Supt. Robert Allen said.

Ocean View, however, had made cuts, and it estimates that it will end the year with a balance of from $25,000 to $50,000, Allen said.