CENTRAL : ORANGE : High School Bus Service Faces Ax

The Orange Unified School District will drop bus service for its high schools, reduce its non-teaching staff by 15 and ask teachers to take a cut in benefits next school year under a preliminary budget adopted by the Board of Education.

The board, which adopted the $107-million budget last week, approved the cuts to make up a $2-million deficit and to ensure that it has made “significant progress” toward the 3% reserve required by the state and county. The budget includes reserves of 2.8%.

Chief Fiscal Officer Joyce R. Capelle said that cuts in employee benefits would save about $600,000. “

Administrators are hoping that attrition and early retirements will take care of some of the scheduled employee reductions. Other cuts include replacing two psychologists with interns, she said. Should the staff cuts survive negotiation, the school will save $1 million, she said.

Board members were largely quiet during the short budget hearing. “When you are looking to cut $2 million from a budget as anorexic as ours, there can only be painful choices,” Capelle said.

The district has cut $11.5 million from its budget over the past three years and laid off teachers and other staff, Capelle said after the Thursday night meeting. As a result, “there is just not much left to cut.”

The school will save $185,000 by eliminating bus service for high school students and another $105,000 by charging for bus service to sports and other extracurricular events.

Capelle added that the budget may have to be reduced even further if the state includes cuts in its budget.

The board also decided to form a committee to look at long-range cuts for the district. These suggestions range from reducing hours to closing elementary schools.

Parents who wish to comment or make suggestions on the budget reductions can call John Ettinger at (714) 997-6319.