MISSION VIEJO : District Employees, Programs Reinstated

Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees have passed a $162-million budget that reinstates nearly half of the programs and employees cut in the spring.

After a brief public hearing Thursday, the trustees unanimously passed the budget, which restores $1.9 million of the $4.8 million for programs and employees eliminated this spring in anticipation of lower state funding.

In addition, the budget includes more than $3 million the district will spend to hire about 20 new teachers at an average annual cost of $35,000 each, along with books and supplies.

The board had passed the tentative budget based on $2 billion in cuts to education proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson. But Wilson later withdrew the proposal, effectively restoring some funding and enabling the school board to restore most of the 82 teachers and half the 32 programs to be cut.

Among the programs partially or fully restored are the academic decathlon competition, remedial reading programs, music and science. Restored positions include high school librarians and counselors.

Originally, the board eliminated funding for the decathlon competition, which has produced the state champion Laguna Hills High School team for two years in a row. With restored state funds, the district has agreed to give each of the four high school teams about $4,500, or about half of last year’s allocation.

Despite the restoration of some cuts, the budget is still lower than last year and 20 programs will not be restored.

The initial cuts prompted an emotional outcry from parents whose children were involved in the programs and teachers whose jobs were on the line. But district Supt. Peter A. Hartman said the board’s actions were “prudent.”

The district “started out with five fingers--you thought you were going to have to cut three, (but) you only had to cut two,” Hartman said. “I don’t feel good (about the cuts), but I could feel worse. We cut some valuable programs.”