COUNTYWIDE : Trustee Wants U.S. Funds for Schools

Huntington Beach City School District Trustee Shirley Carey wants the federal government to pay for the programs it requires the district to offer.

She said much of the money that is intended for books, teachers and classroom supplies is diverted to a variety of programs mandated by the government.

Carey said her district of 5,750 students spent $700,000 in 1992-93 for such mandated programs as asbestos abatement, removal of underground fuel tanks, removal of hazardous waste, implementation of plans to meet environmental requirements, and compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

An informal survey of 13 Orange County school districts that was completed last week by Carey and Virginia Wilson, a trustee of Los Alamitos Unified School District, showed that the unfunded portion of the mandated programs had a cumulative cost of $71 million for the last three years, Carey said.

Participating in the survey were the Buena Park, Centralia, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Magnolia, Ocean View, Savanna and Westminster elementary school districts, Anaheim Union and Huntington Beach Union high school districts, Los Alamitos and Irvine unified districts and the Huntington Beach City School District.

Carey said the purpose of the survey was to identify the magnitude of the problem and to seek support from the Orange County and California delegations to Congress when they consider several bills in coming months concerning compensation for federally mandated programs.

She sent copies of the 18-page survey to educational committees in the state Legislature, the state Department of Education and Gov. Pete Wilson.

She also said the National School Boards Assn. in Alexandria, Va., made copies of the survey and sent it to its lobbyist working on legislation on behalf of public schools.

Carey said she believes that the mandated programs are “admirable and politically correct.” But the lack of federal funding to support the regulations “has taken on the characteristics of a parasite . . . feeding themselves while destroying the core of the educational organization.”

Brian Garland, also a trustee in the Huntington Beach City School District, said that unfunded mandated programs are being thrust on districts at a time when they are hard-pressed financially.

“A lot of the programs are wonderful, but the money comes out of our regular programs and a majority of the kids are being shortchanged,” he said.

Carey said that if her district had not had to pay for the mandated programs and special education services, it could have reduced class sizes, restored nurses and librarians, expanded computer classes, replaced 30-year-old buses or expanded the summer school program.

“Considering that there are more than 1,000 public school districts in California, and more than 16,000 public school systems in the United States, the real cost of unfounded mandates is staggering,” she said.