SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : District’s Legal Fund May Grow Over Suit

Capistrano Unified School District officials are considering adding $200,000 to a legal fund for their defense in a $5-million federal lawsuit filed by Capistrano Valley High School biology teacher John Peloza last month.

The board budgeted $186,000 for routine legal fees, but costs related to the district’s defense in the federal suit will come out of the district’s property and liability fund. That fund contains about $1 million, said Carole F. Bailey, assistant superintendent of business and fiscal services for the district.

In his lawsuit, filed on Sept. 30, Peloza charges that the district violated his civil rights by insisting that he teach only the theory of evolution. The district reprimanded Peloza for teaching creationism in his class.

Last year, the district spent $243,000 on routine legal fees, Bailey said. Because of the size of Peloza’s lawsuit, up to $200,000 more in the property and liability fund may be necessary, she said.

Trustee E.G. Kopp asked administrators to consider increasing the legal funds on hand.

“Considering some of the legal suits that have made the front page lately . . . I don’t want to have to, later in the year, make some adjustments,” Kopp said after the board voted unanimously to renew a contract with the law firm of Biddle & Hamilton.