Education Leaders Are Unsure of Effect of New State Budget

School and college administrators across San Diego County were uncertain Wednesday how the new state budget will change the preliminary cutbacks they had already made in anticipation of inadequate funding.

Trustees of the San Diego Unified School District, the nation’s eighth-largest urban system, cut $30 million in programs and salaries to come up with a $586-million budget this month. Controller Henry Hurley said Wednesday that, “until we do some analysis (next week), it would be only speculation on whether we have cut enough.”

“I’m not comfortable yet to say one way or the other,” Hurley said, adding that Supt. Tom Payzant will tell trustees Sept. 15 whether they can restore some salaries or programs or might have to make additional cuts.

In the Poway Unified School District in North County, Supt. Robert Reeves expressed apprehension about rumors circulating in Sacramento that the final budget might require further cuts than the $3 million made by the district to balance a $114-million budget.

“It’s utter chaos because we just don’t know,” Reeves said. School districts from around the state have been invited to a special meeting in Sacramento on Tuesday to get the nitty-gritty on what’s in store for them.

UC San Diego spokesman Warren Froelich said it will take the campus a few days to figure out what, if any, cuts must be made. So far, the campus has concentrated on an early-retirement program for senior professors, he said.

At San Diego State University, spokesman Rick Moore said there was a sigh of relief that the final state budget apparently cuts the California State University system no more than about 8.8%--near the level anticipated by President Thomas Day in his May budget reductions.

“But it’s still too early to say anything as to specifics,” Moore said.

The campus is in an uproar because Day has targeted 146 tenured and tenure-track professors for layoffs beginning in January as well as the elimination of nine academic departments. A majority of faculty members have voted to ask for Day’s firing by the CSU Board of Trustees. Although Day now says he will consider faculty alternatives to his cuts, the apparent lack of additional state money in the final budget gives both sides little room for negotiating.

Augustine Gallego, chancellor for the San Diego Community College District, expects no major changes in his tentative $203-million budget, spokesman Barry Garron said Wednesday, although he will not know for certain for several days.

That budget eliminated $6 million in costs, including maintenance and equipment, and some class sections at the district’s three campuses.