COSTA MESA : School District to Reinstate 12 Teachers

Newport-Mesa Unified School District plans to reinstate 12 teachers and add $50,000 for athletic transportation because the district anticipates a $750,000 reimbursement from the county, Supt. John W. Nicoll said.

The district, along with others in the county, began paying the county this year to collect property taxes. In June, however, Gov. Pete Wilson repealed the county’s right to collect that fee.

Although the repeal is not effective until January, 1992, a second bill awaiting Wilson’s signature would move the date back, enabling districts to collect fees from the 1991-92 school year.

While the district protested the county’s right to collect the fee, it passed a 1991-92 school year budget that included $1.24 million in reductions. The reductions would have resulted in student-to-teacher ratio of 28.5 to 1. The new allotment reinstates 12 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers, bringing the ratio down to 28 students per one teacher.

At $40,000 per teacher, the reinstatement will cost the district $480,000. An additional $100,000 will be set aside for two resource teacher positions that had been trimmed from the budget.

The athletic transportation program also stands to regain $50,000 of the $100,000 originally cut from the budget.

The money will be used to transport athletes to and from school events.

Nicoll said districts often reinstate--or cut--programs after the state budget passes. But he said he is pleased that the district is benefiting in this case. “It’s always better to be putting people back, than to be taking them out.”