PLACENTIA : School Trustees OK $92.6-Million Budget

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees this week approved a $92.6-million budget for the 1992-93 school year that includes $3.5 million in cuts and eliminates some teaching positions.

As proposed, the budget--approved by a 4-1 vote Tuesday--will require the district to spend $4.5 million from its general fund reserves, leaving a balance of $3.7 million in the fund next June.

To achieve $3.5 million in cuts necessary to balance the budget, the district eliminated the equivalent of 37 teaching positions, 18 1/2 classified positions and 15 positions from the child-care program. Of the 161 layoff notices mailed to employees earlier this year, 81 remain in effect.

Kim Stallings, assistant superintendent for administrative services, said teaching positions were eliminated in core subjects, including math, science and language arts. To accommodate the cuts, the district plans to increase average class size by two to three students at the secondary level. Elementary class sizes will not change.

Although the district has increased class size in the past after eliminating teaching positions, the proposed cuts will have a more widespread impact this time, Stallings said.

“The overall quality of education is being undermined” by the cuts, Stallings said. “The impact will be felt all the way through 12th grade.”

Trustee Barbara S. Williams cast the only dissenting vote, saying the budget process was flawed. She criticized the district for sending out unnecessary preliminary layoff notices and said there were not enough study sessions on the budget.

Williams also called for more debate on programs, saying: “We serve the taxpayers and the children better when we start discussing the budget earlier.”

Stallings, however, said approving a budget before the required Wednesday deadline is absurd, pointing out that local districts are relying on estimates and assumptions until lawmakers in Sacramento adopt the state budget.