ORANGE : School Trustees OK Budget, Cut Wages

Trustees of the Orange Unified School District passed a $101.8-million budget this week that covers a $5-million shortfall by cutting wages for all district employees.

The budget plan, which goes into effect Wednesday, cuts salaries for teachers, support staff and supervisors by 4%, reduces the health and benefits package, and eliminates comprehensive retiree health benefits for new hires, among other trims.

The trustees voted 4 to 3 to adopt the fiscal plan, even though the employee cuts have not been negotiated with the district’s unions. Negotiations with the teachers’ and classified workers’ unions are in progress.

Board President Barry Resnick and trustee Robert H. Viviano opposed the plan, saying that unilateral cuts by the district are unfair.

Viviano said implementing salary rollbacks without completing union negotiations was a “bad way to operate,” and that if the cuts are implemented, the unions could file a grievance against the district for violating fair labor laws.

“Then we’ll be back to the negotiating table with angry people on both sides and will have accomplished nothing,” Viviano said. “We should take the time to negotiate, not litigate.”

Ruby Penner, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn., said the district may have also committed “procedural violations” and that the teachers’ union was prepared to “take whatever action necessary to protect our membership.”

The teachers’ contract expires Tuesday, but negotiations will continue, Penner said. The proposed salary rollbacks would begin Wednesday and affect teachers when they report to year-round classes on July 22, she said.

Board member Maureen Aschoff, who also cast a dissenting vote, said she opposed other elements of the new budget. She objected to an increase in average secondary-school class size from 27.8 students to 29.1; reductions in the district athletic’s budget, including funding for supplies, stipends and transportation; a plan to charge $180 per year per student for busing; and increases in fees for use of school facilities.

If state budget cuts are deeper than expected, the district could increase secondary-school class sizes to 30 students, reduce the number of sports programs, return year-round El Rancho Middle School to a traditional school calendar and reduce or eliminate alternative education programs, officials said.

The cuts leave the district with a reserve fund of $2.17 million, below the state’s recommendation for a 3% reserve.

Board Vice President Lila Beavans, who voted in favor of the budget, said “we are all strongly opposed” to the cuts, but added that “the business of the district has to go forward.”

Trustee Alan E. Irish said that the district had “tried to put together a budget that will minimize the impact to children in the schoolroom.”