Budget Ax Does a Number on High School Athletics : Cutbacks: Huntington Beach trustees pare $48,600 from spending plan amid protests. Swimming pool is spared, for now.

The Huntington Beach Union School District board of trustees Tuesday night approved $48,600 in cuts from the high schools’ athletic programs, but they tabled a proposal to close a swimming pool.

More than 300 parents, booster club members, coaches and teachers jammed the district boardroom in protest of the $2.6 million in budget cuts recommended by district Supt. Lawrence Kemper.

The proposed cuts included elimination of the $48,600 that had been budgeted for the sophomore football, co-ed badminton and freshman-sophomore baseball programs. The board voted 5 to 0 to cut the funds, but allowed the districts’ athletic directors to decide how the cuts would be made.

Larry Doyle, Marina athletic director, was pleased with the decision not to cut the programs. He said he and other athletic directors, principals and a district administrator hope to save the programs by restructuring the payment scale for coaches.

The board set a deadline of late May for the athletic directors’ decision.

But the board did approve several athletic-related cuts, including:

--Elimination of a release period for school athletic directors ($63,000).

--Elimination of a release period for the district athletic director ($10,000).

--Increasing the athletic transportation fee by $10 per student, generating an estimated $40,000 in revenue.

The district has already trimmed its budget by $11.6 million in the past five years to offset decreasing enrollment.

The cuts affect Sunset League high schools Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Marina, Ocean View and Westminster.

The board tabled for one year a proposal to close the Huntington Beach pool, which costs the district $71,150 annually to operate.

Board President Charmayne Bohman urged the board to keep the pool open, suggesting that renovations could be made to decrease operating costs.

“Something can be done to save the pool,” she said. “The boosters and the aquatics people see this as a district (budget) problem, not just a Huntington Beach High School problem.”

Robert Williams, Huntington Beach boys’ swimming coach, said the district would have spent thousands of dollars to maintain the pool if it were closed. Much of the pool’s equipment is outdated and expensive to operate, he said.

“The only way to prevent the maintenance costs is to bring in a bulldozer and tear it down,” he said, “and that would have cost a lot, too.”