School Trustees Approve $62-Million Budget

Trustees in the Huntington Beach Union High School District on Tuesday approved a $62-million operating budget for the coming school year.

Trustees made about $2.5 million in cuts this spring to accommodate an anticipated shortfall in state revenue based on the daily attendance of students.

“Our best guess is that we’ll get about a 5% cut from the state and we’ve planned for that, but there’s no way of telling what the state will do,” School Board Vice President Jerry Sullivan said Wednesday. “I’d like to throw them all out,” he said, referring to the governor and state Legislature. “It’s a terrible way to do business.”

Board President Bonnie Castrey said the process has been “terribly frustrating and extremely grim,” because the students’ needs are increasing.

“Hopefully, the board and the staff have taken all measures possible so as to not underestimate the revenue coming from the state,” Castrey said.

Other officials bemoaned the fact that school districts are required by state law to approve a budget by Tuesday but that the governor and state Legislature failed to comply with the deadline for approving the state budget.

The chief effect of the cutbacks will be to increase each teacher’s average daily load from 170 to 180 students in academic classes. The teaching load had already been increased in physical education, music, and vocational and other classes.

Trustees also made about $3.1 million in cuts last fall and spring.

They reduced the numbers of high school assistant principals, psychologists, nurses, librarians, custodians, secretaries and classified managers. In addition, they closed the swimming pool at Huntington Beach High School. The school district has six comprehensive high schools and one continuation high school with campuses in Westminster and Fountain Valley as well as in Huntington Beach. The estimated enrollment is 13,600, up about 120 from last year.