NEWPORT BEACH : School Advisory Committee to Meet

The newly appointed Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District will hold its first public meeting Tuesday and is inviting parents, teachers and students to attend.

The district’s Board of Education trustees will introduce the 14-member committee at 6 p.m. at the Harper Community Center, 425 E. 18th St., and explain what its duties will be.

School board members created the committee after the district came under criticism about how it handled its budget last school year.

Supt. John W. Nicoll admitted that the district had made some mistakes in calculating its budget, which resulted in a shortfall of about $1 million from the general fund. Although the committee is not designed to audit the budget, its input will help form the budget’s priorities, he said.

The committee “is not going to be looking for things that are wrong with the budget,” Nicoll said. “They will help identify the things that are right.”