HUNTINGTON BEACH : School Budget Cuts Include Swim Pool

Making a final round of scheduled cuts from the 1992-93 budget, Huntington Beach Union High School District trustees this week voted to close a school swimming pool, charge students more to ride buses and eliminate stipends paid to many non-staff coaches and directors.

The board last month approved a $200,000 block of cuts in after-school programs as part of $3.1 million in budget reductions, and on Tuesday decided specifically where those cuts will be made.

Trustees said they regretted having to adopt the reductions--all of which they acknowledge will directly affect students--but said there is nowhere else left to cut.

“I’ll vote for these cuts, but only because I don’t see anything else,” Trustee Jerry Sullivan said. “I don’t want to make class sizes larger rather than cutting (after-school) programs. . . . (Those) programs aren’t worth anything when compared with English, math and science.”

The board’s decision to close the Huntington Beach High School pool stirred the most controversy. Dozens of opponents turned out at previous meetings to decry the proposal, although the protest had all but died out by Tuesday’s sparsely attended meeting.

Steve Stanton, one of the few parents who spoke on the pool issue Tuesday, made a last-ditch effort to persuade trustees to consider other cuts, such as reducing teachers’ salaries.

“Thousands and thousands of kids will be affected just by the closing of this pool,” he said.

The aquatics programs at Huntington Beach High will continue, but the team members will practice and hold their meets at other schools in the district.

The district will save about $70,000 in annual operating costs by closing the antiquated pool, officials said. Because the pool is about 40 years old, it is equipped with an aging heating system that is costly to operate. In addition, it is in need of a host of renovations.

Technically, the closure is temporary until the district can afford to reopen the pool. But that prospect appears unlikely, since a reopening would cost the school district about $200,000 in renovations and operating costs, said Gary Burgner, assistant superintendent for fiscal services.

Among other cuts, the district will eliminate $55,680 in stipends for walk-on coaches and non-salaried directors of bands, speech or other after-school activities.

Five or six stipends from each of the district’s six high schools will be lost. Officials at each school will decide specifically which coaches and directors will lose their pay.

Additionally, the district’s $75,000 budget for busing to extracurricular activities was eliminated. Parents now pay a $40 busing fee for each activity in which their child participates.