NEWPORT BEACH / COSTA MESA : Schools’ Task Force to Consider 50 Ideas for Cutting Budget
A resident and employee task force reviewing $11.7 million in possible Newport-Mesa Unified School District budget cuts will meet twice this week in an effort to prioritize the 50 items on the list.
The panel received the list Thursday night and heard descriptions of each item, from elimination of bus service and across-the-board salary reductions to increasing class size and ending athletic programs.
Only a handful of parents attended that meeting, and the only one who spoke to the task force criticized it for not promoting more parental involvement.
Task force members were instructed to review the list over the weekend and return Tuesday to begin deciding what should be cut from the 1994-95 budget of $86.7 million. The district now faces a projected $8.2-million shortfall resulting from losses in the Orange County bond pool.
The district invested $80 million in the pool, $47 million borrowed in an effort to win a higher return, along with $33 million of its own money.
The task force will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and again at 7 p.m. Thursday at Harper Community Boardroom, 425 E. 19th St., Costa Mesa. Both meetings are open to the public, which will be able to rate each proposed cut on a 1-5 scale of importance.
The school board is scheduled to review and vote on the task force’s recommendations at a meeting Feb. 21.
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