IRVINE : Trustees See Need for Planning Panel

The Irvine Unified School District, facing a gloomy financial future even after scaling back programs in recent years to balance its budget, should form a strategic planning committee to recommend fundamental changes to the district, the school board said this week.

Major changes will be needed to keep the district financially alive, board members and top-level district administrators said late Tuesday while discussing the budget and recommendations made by an education consultant.

The Washington-based consultant, which was paid $25,000 to analyze district operations, recommended that the school board cut funding to organized sports and other extracurricular activities and all non-mandatory classes, such as art and music. Only by focusing on core, state-mandated instruction can the district maintain its well-known high quality in light of shrinking funding, said Robert E. Schoenberg, president of National Economic Research Associates Inc.

Sports and other programs should be paid for with fees or by encouraging private teachers to offer classes on a fee-basis, perhaps even on school grounds, Schoenberg said.

Although board members said they might not be willing to go that far, some fundamental change must occur in the way the school district operates in order to survive financially.

In light of the state’s reduction in education funding and rising costs of operating schools, board member Margie Wakeham said: “We are going to be looking at implementing these things and other things that are even less pleasant. . . . It’s not going to get better.”

The board said it will create the strategic planning committee of parents, teachers, board members and district administrators at its Nov. 2 meeting.

The committee should try to work fast enough to make recommendations to the board by January, Supt. David E. Brown said.

If the recession continues, the district will have to cut more from the budget this school year, Deputy Supt. Paul H. Reed said. Prospects for more money from the state next year look bleak because the state already is projecting a $2-billion deficit this year, which could increase to $5 billion by June, Reed said.

Even after cutting $3.2 million from the budget last school year and $2.2 million this year, the district balanced its budget only by borrowing $2 million from its building and improvement fund. The borrowing cannot continue indefinitely and the money must be repaid, Reed said.

The cuts have meant that most busing has been eliminated. Elementary-level art and music classes have been cut back.