Capistrano School Board Proposes Spending Cuts

There would probably be one more student in each Capistrano Unified School District classroom and six fewer jobs in the district next fall under a budget-cutting plan proposed by the Board of Trustees.

In a series of straw votes taken Monday, the board agreed to increase average class size, lay off four elementary music teachers, its facilities planner and a personnel clerk, and make 23 other cuts that would include eliminating field trips and the sixth-grade camp.

But the board, which is preparing to cut $4.2 million from the district’s $112-million budget, rejected earlier proposals to eliminate a remedial reading program and lay off half the lunchtime playground supervisors and one-fourth of the custodians and groundskeepers. Final votes on each proposal are scheduled for Monday.

An overflow crowd of about 125 teachers, administrators, employees and parents packed the board meeting room Monday night, with more than 20 people speaking against the proposed cuts.

After lengthy discussions, a majority of the board indicated that it would favor increasing class sizes, which will save $1.8 million, and laying off the music teachers, which will save $186,000. The music teachers travel to each elementary school teaching basic principles to children in kindergarten through third grade.

The trustees said they voted to increase class size because the district’s classes generally have two or three students fewer, depending on grade level, than the average for the county as a whole. The average class size for the Capistrano district is about 27.

“We do not take pleasure in increasing class size,” Trustee Annette B. Gude said, “but I pledge to (the teachers) that we will reduce it next year if we can.”

Ric Stephenson, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn., said that although the teachers’ union generally opposes increasing class sizes, that alternative would be preferable to another calling for junior and senior high school teachers to teach six rather than five periods a day.

The trustees also said that although they like having a music program for young children, the district can no longer afford it. Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley has said that some, if not all, of the music teachers, if they are qualified, could be rehired this fall to fill vacancies for regular elementary teachers.

The personnel clerk’s salary is $28,300. The compensation package for the director of facility planning, Karl Krebs, would be $76,627 next year.

William Dawson, assistant superintendent of facilities and services, said the duties performed by Krebs, who is in charge of the district’s plans to build 10 more campuses, will be assumed by other administrators. The personnel clerk’s duties will also be split among other workers, he said.

The trustees rejected a proposal to cut the remedial reading program, which serves about 1,000 students at a cost of $390,000 a year.

They also rejected proposals to lay off custodians and grounds keepers, saying that some campuses are falling into disrepair because of previous cuts in those jobs. The jobs of the lunchtime supervisors would be saved because, the trustees said, the board is concerned about children’s safety and members are unsure whether teachers would agree to forgo lunch periods.