SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : School District Faces Bleak Budget Picture

The Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees was presented with a gloomy budget forecast last week by Supt. James A. Fleming, who said Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1992-93 budget proposals may force the district to make spending reductions that could result in cuts in programs.

Fleming told the trustees at Wednesday’s meeting that he foresees another tough spending plan for the district, which was forced to trim nearly $3 million from its 1991-92 budget.

“We will no doubt have some difficult situations down the road,” Fleming said. “As we begin to think about our budget, unless the state Legislature does something surprising to improve the funding for education, we’ll be in the position of having to cut programs and services.”

Last year, the district adopted a $114-million budget that included raising the district’s average class size by one and eliminating some programs.

“The good news is that the governor has done the best he could with the state’s bleak situation,” said Carleen Wing-Chandler, the district’s director of budget and finance. “But the state is going to give us virtually no additional income. There’s really no new money.”

The district will be further affected by the lack of new money because of built-in salary increases for teachers, Wing-Chandler said.

Ric Stephenson, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn., said district officials may be premature in their bleak budget predictions.

“It’s not a rosy picture, but it could be far worse,” Stephenson said. “It’s our contention that though it is by far not an ideal economic picture, there still are sufficient funds because of growth and an ending budget balance that far exceeds what are recommended reserves.”

Wing-Chandler said the only new money the rapidly growing district will receive will be for additional students. The district, which has an enrollment of more than 20,000, is expected to grow by at least 2,000 next year.

Wing-Chandler said the district was concerned that enrollment growth would not be funded by the state at the current level of about $3,000 per student.

“Anything less could be disastrous for a district like us because we are constantly growing and we need to house the additional students, hire more teachers to teach them and buy more books,” she said.

Stephenson said he thinks this additional money should prevent any cuts.

“The fact that the state is going to fully fund growth ought to bring in a significant amount of money,” Stephenson said.