Educators Fear Even Worse Squeeze : Schools: Tally of laid-off county teachers settles at 250, but legislators consider another $1.5 billion in cuts.

As the official tally of laid-off teachers in the county settled at about 250 Friday, local educators kept one ear to the legislative rumor mill in Sacramento, knowing that their fiscal troubles are likely to deepen by the time students return to class next year.

Final pink slips went out to school employees Friday to meet a state-mandated deadline, but no one will know the full depth of the cuts until the state budget is passed. Most observers expect lawmakers to wrangle far past their June 15 budget-signing deadline, possibly delaying the final budget until November.

In laying off teachers, districts planned for a fiscal worst-case scenario they envision in Sacramento. But every day brings more bad news.

The latest is that the governor and legislators are considering cutting another $1.5 billion from the $18.4 billion now allotted for education in Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed $60.2-billion budget for fiscal 1992.

So this year, school officials are not just complaining that they are strapped for cash for next year. They are shouting to be heard.

If even more cuts are made, educators say, local districts will suffer significantly, a blow all the worse because they have been whittling away at staff, programs and administrative costs for years.

“There is a profound level of additional cuts the districts have not even begun to discuss,” said Kevin R. Gordon, director of governmental relations for the California School Boards Assn. “If they try to take another billion out of the public schools, the cuts that will have to be made will pale in comparison to those we’ve already seen.”

In Orange County, the Capistrano Unified School District has notified 177 teachers that their jobs will not exist next year. The districts next hardest hit--Newport-Mesa Unified and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified--sent similar notices to 34 and 37 teachers, respectively. Many other districts are laying off scores of classified personnel, increasing class sizes and streamlining in other ways.

If more money is taken from the state education budget, Gordon said, districts will have to begin discussing cuts in the core academic curricula, reductions that were never seriously weighed because they ventured into territory considered sacred.

High schools might reduce the number of algebra classes offered, for instance, forcing students to stand in long registration lines or even to forgo the class altogether. One district near Sacramento is already planning to turn one of its daily academic periods into a study hall, Gordon said.

Education consultants are beginning to advise districts to consider shortening their school years by lengthening the number of hours students attend class, as Los Angeles Unified is considering doing, he said.

Gordon predicted that 1992 might see a legal challenge to the state Education Code section requiring a 175-day school year.

“The reality is that given the current economy, every school district in the state is going to have to consider every possible option,” said Sherry Loofbourrow, a member of the Board of Education in the Newport-Mesa district.

Schools are in terrible trouble, even though Wilson’s budget was kinder to education than some had anticipated, she said.

“Absolutely, it’s going to be worse next year than anyone anticipated,” Loofbourrow said. “It’s true that in January, (Wilson) prioritized education, but all that means is that we were cut less than other areas. It doesn’t mean we’re anywhere close to being adequately funded.”

Carleen Wing Chandler, director of budget and finance for Capistrano Unified, said the looming cuts are that much rougher because district revenue has not kept pace with growth in student population and because the districts must shell out more each year for health benefits, utility costs and built-in step increases in teacher pay.

“The math simply doesn’t work,” she said.