TUSTIN : School Budget Has Bus Fees, New Cuts

Parents will have to pay up to $375 annually for bus transportation and most high school remedial courses will be eliminated next school year under a budget approved by the trustees of the Tustin Unified School District.

The school board on Monday unanimously approved a $46-million spending plan for the 1992-93 fiscal year that includes $900,000 in spending cuts. District officials warned that possible cuts at the state level may force further reductions later this summer.

“We are getting down to a very sensitive decision-making crisis,” Supt. David L. Andrews said. “We are getting down to programs and people.”

The new budget does not include employee layoffs, although it does continue a hiring freeze that has been in effect since April.

District officials were able to shave $200,000 or 13% off transportation costs by imposing school busing fees. Beginning in the fall, parents will pay $150 per year for one or two children, and $75 a year for a third child, to ride the bus to school. Families with more than three children will pay a maximum of $375.

Special education students will be exempt, and low-income families will be eligible for free transportation or reduced rates.

Paul Fisher, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance, said the move will probably allow the district to reduce the number of buses because some parents may find alternative ways of getting their children to school. The elimination of one bus would save the district $32,000, he said.

Basic education programs, which offer remedial instruction to about 300 students in the district’s high schools, will also be eliminated next fiscal year, with the exception of math courses.

Andrews said teachers at the district’s middle and elementary schools will help offset the loss of those programs by spending extra time with students who would probably be enrolled in remedial courses upon entering high school.

Other provisions of the budget include a 2.5% salary increase for teachers, a $742,184 reduction in employee health benefits, and a 10% increase in the per-student allocation of instructional materials and services.

Tustin Unified is still not out of choppy financial waters even with the adoption of a balanced budget. The county is requiring school districts to adopt a contingency plan in the event that more revenues are lost to the state. Tustin’s plan must offer $1 million in additional cuts, Andrews said.