BUENA PARK : Centralia School Officials Plan Cuts

Centralia School District officials, who are projecting a $670,000 budget deficit for 1993-94, say they expect to make up the shortfall by leaving vacant positions unfilled and cutting some classroom programs.

Paul Burkart, director of fiscal services, said the district has also proposed an additional $271,401 in budget reductions that would include dropping programs that used to be funded by grants.

Burkart said that grant money will no longer be available for these programs and that the district must decide whether to use its own money to keep them going.

For example, Burkart said, a bilingual preschool program at Danbrook and Raymond Temple elementary schools has been funded the past three years by federal grants. After this year, however, the district will no longer receive the $190,000 to run the program.

Burkart said cutbacks in personnel also will be considered. But he said the district isn’t anticipating any teacher layoffs.

Board of Trustees President Karen Blake said the board will be examining possible reductions in school budgets but that nothing has been finalized.

“Everything is still negotiable and up in the air,” she said. “There will have to be more cuts made. I would imagine there would be a cuts in the amount of money for individual school programs.”

Trustees are expected to take action on the budget in June. The district has eight elementary schools in the cities of Buena Park, Anaheim and La Palma.

Burkart said the district’s proposed budget for next fiscal year is $18.8 million, with expenditures projected at $19.5 million.

“We’re spending more than we’re taking in,” Burkart said. “We have reserves to cover (the deficit). But we need to make further cuts so we don’t exhaust our reserves.”

Burkart said the projected shortfall is due to cutbacks in state funding as the district faces increased costs in areas such as employee salaries and benefits, utilities and state workers’ compensation.

“If we don’t make cuts this year, it will affect future years and our ability to be financially solvent,” he said.