MISSION VIEJO : Board to Consider $109-Million Budget

Officials in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District are recommending that the board of trustees adopt a final $109-million budget Tuesday that includes about $2.3 million in cuts.

Earlier this month, the board approved the $2.3-million reduction list to help cope with an estimated $8-million shortfall, caused primarily by reduced funding from the state.

The remaining $5.6 million is proposed to be covered by the district’s $8.1-million reserve account.

Among the most controversial of the cost-saving measures preliminarily adopted by the board was a twofold increase in the district’s school busing fee. With the new annual $365 fee per student, the district expects to recover all of its basic transportation costs, although some parents have vowed to boycott the service.

The board also approved cutting the coaching stipends for nine freshman-sophomore athletic teams--which could mean the end of those athletic programs--and eliminating middle-school zero periods, used primarily by students for foreign language, music and reading classes.

About 11 positions are also slated to be eliminated, although the cuts will probably come through attrition and are not expected to result in any layoffs.

But until the state legislature passes its own budget, the district’s final budget may not end up being that final after all, Assistant Supt. Barry Blade said.

“Obviously, if things change (in Sacramento) dramatically, we will have to probably come back and adopt a new budget and make additional cuts,” Blade said. “Hopefully, we’re not too far off.”

Officials had waited until today’s state-mandated deadline to adopt a balanced budget in the hopes that more specific information would be available from the state, “but things really have not progressed at all at this point,” Blade said.

Earlier this month, board members tentatively saved elementary-level music and reading programs and librarian and guidance counseling positions, although those programs and positions could be cut later if more state funds are pulled from the district.