NEWPORT BEACH : School District May Lay Off 50 Workers

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District may lay off up to 50 non-teaching employees by the end of the year to make up for a budget shortfall that has left the district $4 million in debt for the current school year.

The plan to cut the classified employee staff--which includes maintenance workers, secretaries, aides and other support workers--is the latest money-saving measure that the district has considered in recent weeks to cover an unexpected $2.5-million revenue shortfall. The board probably will formally consider the layoffs next month.

“We regret this action, but we think it will be necessary,” Supt. John W. Nicoll said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Union officials were surprised by Tuesday’s announcement and said they will meet with school officials today to see whether layoffs can be avoided.

“We hate to see any cutback of classified staff,” said Michael Parks, a field representative for the California School Employees Assn., which represents most of the district’s estimated 850 classified employees. “Our initial hope was that they would be able to do what they needed to do with attrition. I’m still hopeful.”

Parks said he hopes that the union and the district can find an alternative to the cuts, which he said could amount to up to 150 people because many of the employees are part-timers, meaning that two or three workers sometimes account for one full-time position.

District officials realized that there was a shortfall after the board passed the budget in June, but budget problems worsened because of lower-than-anticipated property taxes and delinquent property tax payments.

As a basic-aid district, Newport-Mesa relies heavily on property taxes for revenue and receives only minimum state funding.

Assistant Supt. Thomas A. Godley said that the personnel cuts would amount to about $700,000 in savings and that the district hopes to save another $1 million through the current hiring freeze and a ban on overtime.

District officials also hope to cover the shortfall by not immediately repaying money previously borrowed from reserves, which amounts to about $1.5 million annually and by other bookkeeping changes that could save about $800,000 this year, Godley said.

The board may discuss the layoff proposal at coming meetings and will probably make a decision by the end of the year or at the beginning of January, Godley said.