Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : New Round of Budget Cuts in Offing : Education: The Antelope Valley Union High School District faces a $4.4-million shortfall. Fifty teacher jobs may be pared.

A grim financial situation in the Antelope Valley’s high school district may get even worse this fall as school officials face another round of employee layoffs, reduced class offerings and higher student fees.

A $12-million budget shortfall last year, caused in part by mismanagement, forced trustees of the Antelope Valley Union High School District to cut about 140 employees, impose a $100-per-student annual busing fee and slash salaries, benefits and spending.

The district also was forced to borrow $8 million from the county to pay its bills.

Despite those measures, school officials are warning that the 13,000-student district faces another $4.4-million shortfall in the coming fiscal year, prompting a new round of potential cuts.

As spelled out by district officials and school board members at a Wednesday night meeting, the major proposals to reduce next year’s $47-million general fund budget are:

* Cutting 50 positions from the district’s teaching staff of about 400 through a combination of layoffs of temporary teachers, attrition and by not hiring new teachers to accommodate the hundreds of new students expected to enroll next year.

* Cutting the school day from six to five periods. That would reduce costs because teachers are only paid to teach five periods each day.

Either measure is projected to save the district several million dollars.

Two other suggestions are to reduce school bus services, which now costs the district $1.4 million in general fund money, or to significantly increase the busing fees imposed last year.

The school board agreed Wednesday to hold a May 10 study session on the 1993-94 budget. In the meantime, a district committee will study and recommend changes in the current busing program.

Noting that he favors busing cuts or higher fees and opposes teacher layoffs or class cuts, board President Steve Landaker said, “I feel as far as cuts are concerned, we can’t go any deeper.”

Instead, Landaker suggested that district administrators seek to extend the repayment of an $8-million county bailout loan the district received last year, or even to ask for more money. The district repaid $4 million plus interest this year, and is due to repay the other half in the coming school year.

The school board president also suggested that the district seek approval from Antelope Valley voters for a parcel tax that could cost property owners $50 a year. Such a ballot measure would require two-thirds voter approval, but Landaker said it could pass if voters were given the opportunity to select the school projects to be funded.

The district’s status this fall will depend in part on whether the state follows through on a plan to tighten guidelines that control the flow of state money. If that plan is not enacted, the district’s projected shortfall could shrink to about $1.5 million, officials said.

The district’s fiscal troubles stem from a combination of statewide cuts in funding for education, as well as past accounting mistakes that hid the district’s declining financial health over several years and finally required the county bailout.

Despite their fiscal problems, however, board members were able to award a $27-million contract for a new high school in west Lancaster. The district is paying for the project with state bond money approved by voters for construction that is separate from the state funds given to operate schools.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday to award the contract to Berry Construction of Upland. District Engineer Richard Aitken predicted work at the 55-acre site will start in June and be completed by fall 1995.

When completed, Lancaster High School will be the district’s seventh.

The district, which continues to grow in enrollment despite the recession, already is working on plans for two other new high schools: a campus in east Lancaster and another one in east Palmdale.