ANTELOPE VALLEY : Letter Says School Superintendent Was Told of Budget Deficit in Early ’91

The Antelope Valley high school superintendent was told the school district faced a crippling, multimillion-dollar deficit in early 1991--about eight months before he contends he learned of the problem, a former district financial official is alleging.

In a May 29 letter to the Board of Trustees of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, former director of fiscal services John Joy called it “absurd” for Supt. Kenneth Brummel to maintain that he did not know the district was facing a deficit until late 1991, just before he publicly announced it in January.

Joy, in a letter made public Wednesday, said he and Darlene Hinkel, former assistant superintendent for business services, informed Brummel by April, 1991, that the district was facing a $7-million deficit for the 1991-92 fiscal year.

Joy and Hinkel left the district earlier this year after the deficit was disclosed.

The letter is the second document to surface suggesting that Brummel knew the district was facing a very serious fiscal crisis well before he has said he did. A memo from Hinkel to Brummel in April, 1991, revealed to reporters last month, cited an expected $9-million shortfall for the 1991-92 fiscal year.

Brummel has maintained that he never heard of such amounts, first saying that he was told by auditors only in late 1991 that the district was facing a nearly $1-million shortfall. More recently, in the wake of the publication of Hinkel’s memo, Brummel acknowledged discussing a potential $2.3-million shortfall with her in the spring of 1991.

The latest projections estimate the deficit at $12.4 million for the 1991-92 and 1992-93 fiscal years. To partly close the gap, the district has issued layoff notices to more than 100 employees, about 10% of its work force, and was expected to add another 11 employees to the list Wednesday night.

The district’s Board of Trustees also was scheduled to discuss behind closed doors Wednesday night the results of an internal inquiry into when Brummel learned of the deficit. The inquiry was completed prior to the delivery of Joy’s letter to the board by school district employees.

District employees who provided copies of Joy’s letter to the news media said Joy faxed the letter to them from Kuwait, where he is now working, after learning that Brummel had been publicly blaming him and Hinkel for not informing Brummel of the district’s looming financial problems.