FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Trustees Consider Budget Contingencies

Orange County’s financial crisis means that employees of the Fountain Valley School District probably won’t get raises during the 1995-96 school year, officials said, and trustees may be forced to make other cutbacks.

At a budget workshop Thursday, Marc Ecker, assistant superintendent for business administration, presented trustees various scenarios, all of them presuming that the county’s December bankruptcy filing will mean less money available for the next fiscal year.

“I’m not optimistic the school district will get back 100% of its money,” Ecker said. “And without 100%, it’s difficult to make your budget work.”

The district has $5.4 million in the county’s frozen investment pool.

At the regular board meeting later, trustees unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the county release all of the district’s money.

If the district receives only 90% of its money by the end of the current fiscal year, it would still have a balance of $1.5 million on which to build a budget for the 1995-96 school term, Ecker said.

He recommended that the board nevertheless begin setting priorities now in anticipation of receiving less and thus being forced to cut some programs.

Despite the bleak financial picture, trustees expressed optimism about recovering all of the funds eventually.

“I’m just praying for the best,” Trustee Barbara A. Vogel said. “I really believe, when all is said and done, that schools are going to get 100% of their money back. . . . It’s the only fair thing to do.”

Trustees will meet for a budget workshop March 9 and will have another some time in April. They expect to adopt a new budget in June.