Board Votes to Make Cuts in Athletics : Budgets: Saddleback Valley trustees agree to trim $150,000 but will try to save all sports programs.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s board of education voted Tuesday to trim $150,000 from its athletic budget, but agreed not to eliminate any sports programs at this time.

After three hours of input from students and parents, the board approved the cuts, which would be part of a district-wide $4.8-million budget reduction.

“We don’t want to eliminate a sport 100% if there’s a way to avoid it,” said Kent Hann, school board president. “But these are unreasonable cuts that we’re being forced into.”

On the bubble were boys’ and girls’ cross-country, boys’ and girls’ tennis, water polo, wrestling and golf at El Toro, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Trabuco Hills high schools. By dropping the seven programs, the district would be cutting an estimated $166,964.

“We have directed the staff (four high school principals) to come back with a more clarified version to consider,” Hann said.

The district has identified $4.3 million in reductions and now must consider where the final $500,000 will be cut. Most parents and students urged a more equitable method of trimming all sports across the board rather than eliminating specific sports.

Charles Blek, president of the athletic council at Trabuco Hills, was loudly supported when he said, “I find it difficult terminating certain sports and allowing others to exist.”

Robert Micone, whose son plays golf at Trabuco Hills, added, “If we’re going to make cuts, those cuts should be shared equally by all sports.”

Michael Lynch, president of the athletic boosters club at Laguna Hills, noted that the five sports considered for elimination were “not the big ticket items in athletic departments.”

Said Lynch: “By eliminating a sport, you’re putting our children at a competitive disadvantage now, in college and, perhaps, the rest of their lives.”