FOUNTAIN VALLEY : School District Pares $588,000 Off Budget

The Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees this week adopted a tentative 1993-94 budget in which $588,000 in cuts were made.

Trying to cope with a projected shortfall in the $25.6-million general-fund budget, the district’s cost-saving measures included no salary raises and freezes on additional pay for experience for all employee groups.

Cutbacks in personnel expenses, negotiated with employee groups, saved the district about $300,000.

District Supt. Ruben L. Ingram said employee unions and the district mutually agreed not to fill certain vacancies, including four teacher positions, to save the district money.

“We absorbed these positions through attrition,” Ingram said. “There was quite a bit of sacrifice by the employees in terms of their pocketbooks and workload to save (school) programs.”

Pat Harney, head of the bargaining team for Fountain Valley Education Assn., which represents 220 of district’s 250 teachers, said members “weren’t too happy with the salary freezes, but we avoided laying teachers off, cutting programs and increasing class sizes.”

“Based on that, (teachers) were willing to accept the freeze,” Harney said.

Ingram said administrative overhead was cut to save school programs. The district eliminated an assistant superintendent position, an administrative secretary and administrative assistant to the superintendent for savings in excess of $100,000.

Marc Ecker, assistant superintendent of administration and business, said the district also made reductions in discretionary purchases for such items as computers and supplemental testing programs for students, for a total savings of $110,090.

The district also realized a savings of $170,250 by freezing spending in the current fiscal year in such areas as travel for conferences and workshops, general employee training programs and some maintenance and repairs to schools.

Trustees are expected to take action in September on a final 1993-94 budget.