HUNTINGTON BEACH : High School District OKs New Budget

The Huntington Beach Union High School District has approved a $76-million budget for the new fiscal year--a reduction of $3 million from last year’s budget.

“We’re getting less money next year because of decreasing enrollment,” said David Hagen, district superintendent. “We’re expecting a decrease of about 450 students next year.”

The school district governs all public high schools in Huntington Beach, Westminster and Fountain Valley.

State funding to school districts is based on a complex formula that includes the number of students within a district. Enrollment in district schools has been declining for several years.

Hagen said most of the spending cutbacks for the new fiscal year beginning July 1 come from reducing the number of employees. “We’ll have 35 fewer teachers next year than we had this year,” he said.

He added that the decrease in the number of teachers comes from early-retirement incentives. The district is making no layoffs, he said.

Although there will be fewer teachers next year, the district does not project an increase in average classroom size. Hagen said that the lower number of students next year enables the district to keep classroom sizes about the same as last year, despite the loss of 35 teachers.

The new budget includes no pay raises. It also includes using about $1.3 million in district reserves.

“The district has been expecting to hit its reserves during the last two years of projected declining enrollment,” Hagen said. “State law requires a district to have at least 3% in reserves, and we’ll still have 6.5% in reserves after next year,” he said.