OC HI: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : OC High asks: If you had to cut the budget at your school what would you eliminate?

“The cafeteria, because nobody eats in it.”

Johnny Zuckerman, 14, freshman, Huntington Beach

“I would have school outside in order to cut the electrical bill. When it is rainy, we can come inside and have classes under the skylights.”

Nancy Troia, 17, senior, Capistrano Valley

“Assemblies, because they take time away from our classes and most of them are not inspirational to the students. Those who like them only use (them) as an excuse to get out of classes.”

Uyenthy Le, 16 , junior, Saddleback

“I think I would eliminate non-academic classes such as driver’s ed, health, dance and P.E. I realize that would be changing the whole curriculum of school, but the teachers would be better used to decrease class sizes.”

Nicole Laicato, 18, senior, El Dorado

“Overtime pay that teachers get for being an adviser to a club and doing various things.”

Dorothy Kim, 17, junior, Irvine

“Desks. Why can’t we just sit on the floor?”

Joanne Browe, 16, junior, Canyon

“I would cut the attendance office staff so that no one could keep track of tardies or absences.”

Sarah Gertler, 15, sophomore, Villa Park

“Assemblies for educational purposes (like) preventing the use of drugs, getting AIDS, etc. No matter how you try to educate those students, they’re too stubborn to change or are too naive. I think that since one has gone so far in life, they already have their morals set.”

Jenny Tang, 18, senior, Santiago

“The color guard or cheerleading programs, because they don’t raise a lot of money.”

Holly Collier, 16, sophomore, Mission Viejo

“Less popular sports, lower-enrollment remedial classes and classes of lower enrollment that are much more specialized than the general course of study.”

Anthony Rabino, 18, senior, Cypress

“The psychologists, because most of the kids don’t even know that we have one. Most of the ones who need a psychologist go to a (private) one, rather than a school one.”

Adriana Lopez-Young, 17, senior, Irvine

“I would reduce paperwork, and instead of cleaning rooms every day, I (would do it) just on the weekend.”

Jassy Kaur, 17, junior, Sonora

“I think I would eliminate school-funded sports or sport-related events. I would also eliminate some of the teachers’ money and perhaps even fire some of the teachers that don’t really work anyway.”

Pavan Grewall, 14, freshman, Villa Park

“Administration salaries. The administration doesn’t have anything to do with education. They merely oppress us.”

Dusty Lloyd, 16, junior, Laguna Beach

“(Instead of cuts) have a toll booth for parking and pay toilets.”

Jean Kuan, 16, junior, El Dorado

“I don’t see any place we can cut. Students already must pay for a lot of activities on their own, and I think schools are the wrong place to start budget cutting.”

Lauren Anderson, 14, freshman, Huntington Beach

“Some of the art classes.”

Lara Cavanagh, 17, senior, Los Alamitos

“How can we eliminate anything from this school? We really don’t have a lot of activities. If we do cut some, then this school would be dead.”

Claudia Pena, 16, junior, Saddleback

“Teachers.”

Walter Lin, 16, junior, Brea Olinda

“The assemblies and spirit rallies.”

Katie Liu, 14, freshman, Valencia

“I would cut down on the amount spent on custodial (services), because students should have the maturity to take proper care of the campus themselves.”

Myra Chen, 13, freshman, Brea Olinda

“Clubs that cost the school money to run but don’t bring the school any money.”

Daniel Baschardi, 16, junior, Mission Viejo

“I would eliminate the paper that they put up on the walls and not buy paints anymore. This takes money out of school that can be used to buy more books or to keep the library open more hours.”

Maria Juarez, 15, freshman, Sonora

“To facilitate a large budget cut, I would cut all funding to a certain part of a department--such as funding for photography in the art department. This means the teacher and students must come up with the money for supplies. I would cut part of a department that I feel is unnecessary or that does not have a large number of students.”

Robert Chung, 15, freshman, Santiago

“I would cut back funding in departments that won’t really help you in the future, such as color guard or activities such as cheer or mascots. Just the things that don’t have anything to do with schooling.”

David Ruiz, 17, senior, Cypress

“Have school only half the day to save electricity.”

Ann Smith, 18, senior, Capistrano Valley

“I would get rid of all the chalkboards.”

Felicia Cordero, 16, junior, Valencia

* Responses gathered by Robert Wenzel, Irvine; Sabrina Friedman, Canyon; Jennifer Tobkin, Villa Park; Amy Woo, Huntington Beach; Amber Pierce, Los Alamitos; Michelle Tran, Saddleback; Amy Chen, Brea Olinda; Craig Hammill, Laguna Beach; Michael Steinberger, El Dorado; Dan Nieto, Mission Viejo; Leeza Duong, Santiago; Roxeanne McGraw, Cypress; Joslin Gemsch, Capistrano Valley; Ling Lu, Valencia.