HUNTINGTON BEACH : Teacher and Nurse Layoffs Proposed

The superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District on Tuesday recommended that 15 teachers and most school nurses, psychologists and librarians be laid off or reassigned next year to help offset a $3.1-million deficit.

Supt. David Hagen presented his spending proposals to the Board of Trustees, touching off a furor among educators and parents in what is becoming an annual controversy for the district.

About 150 parents and teachers packed the board meeting room Tuesday to hear Hagen’s proposals.

Hagen recommended that 53 1/2 district positions be eliminated, which would force at least 17 employees to lose their jobs. In some cases, employees may be reassigned to other vacant positions.

The board on Feb. 25 will hold a public hearing on Hagen’s recommendations. Trustees are scheduled to adopt their spending cuts from an $80-million budget on March 10.

Having whittled $14.5 million from proposed budgets during the past five years, the district this year cannot avoid eliminating key employees, Hagen said. Speaking about his proposed spending reductions, Hagen said, “ I personally find them very difficult, and I know the board, the staff and the community will also find them very difficult.”

The spending reductions are needed to offset an existing $1.5-million deficit and $1.6 million in projected cost increases next year. Based on Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1992-93 budget proposal, state funding next year will not compensate districts for additional costs.

The district has slashed $29 million from yearly spending proposals since 1978.

The cuts have been prompted by a deep enrollment decline, exacerbated by the statewide funding crisis. Between 1978 and 1990, enrollment dropped from a peak of 21,193 to 13,351.

As a result, this year’s cuts are hitting more critical areas than was true in the past.

The district in past years has laid off clerical workers and teachers’ assistants and dramatically reduced spending on supplies and administrative costs. Many programs have been combined to save money, and vacant positions have been eliminated.