ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Irvine Families Fear for Schools’ Future : THE MILLERS

These are the stories of two Irvine families who have a personal stake in helping their community’s schools weather the county’s bankruptcy. They spoke with Times staff writer Ching-Ching Ni.

The Millers, Donna and Richard, were happy parents grateful to be raising their 8- and 2-year-old daughters in a community with such highly touted public schools.

Now they are bitter parents reluctant to bear the brunt of Orange County’s financial crisis, which they say is starting to eat away at the city’s schools and their own pocketbooks.

“It’s bad enough every time you turn around you have to support the school,” said Donna Miller, one of 600 Irvine residents surveyed in a Times Orange County Poll.

“They are already asking the parents to bring this and that. And they keep adding all kinds of fund-raisers which they didn’t have last year. Sounds like nothing’s going to be too good anymore.”

Donna Miller and her husband are both 38 years old and work as grocery clerks, with a combined income of about $70,000. They bought their home 15 years ago before property values here soared. Richard Miller works the graveyard shift so he can stay home during the day and spare the expense of hiring a baby-sitter for their 2-year-old, Danielle.

Even before the county’s fiscal crisis, Donna Miller was uncomfortable with the constant pressure to donate supplies and money to 8-year-old Roxanne’s school, she said.

“At the beginning of the year we brought the basic stuff like markers, crayons, glue sticks and folders,” she said. “Then they brought home the ‘wish list.’ You look pretty stupid if you don’t bring anything. You don’t want to look like you have no money.”

“On kids’ birthday they ask, instead of cupcakes, you donate a book to their library. We had to do it right away because Roxy’s birthday is near the first day of school. It’s all voluntary, but then again there’s the pressure.”

Since the crisis, mother and daughter have gone door-to-door to sell $215 worth of chocolates to pay for school supplies.

School district officials, who invested more than $100 million in the county’s collapsed investment fund, have sent home questionnaires asking parents which programs they consider top priorities.

The Millers said they would prefer to contribute their time rather than additional money to help the district, even if it means Donna Miller has to spend Wednesdays--her only day off--doing maintenance work at their daughter’s school.

The Millers say their biggest worry is that the quality of education will suffer. Their daughter hopes to take violin lessons at her school next fall, and they fear the music program might be cut. Worse still, they are concerned that school officials will be forced to lay off teachers.

“We like the teachers they have now,” Donna Miller said.

“We also don’t know if they’re going to put 10 more kids in the classes,” added Richard Miller. “If they have 45 instead of 30 in a class they won’t get enough attention,”

At home, Richard Miller entertains his daughters with his hobby as a amateur magician. He built a special box the size of a small sofa where with a tap he regularly makes Roxy disappear and her friends cheer. With some more practice, he said, he could probably volunteer to take his tricks to his daughter’s school.

His living room act, though, does little to dispel the father’s anger about the unexpected burden for Irvine parents.

“I’m all for helping out but I’m not for being taken advantage of,” Richard Miller said. “I’m not in favor of bailing out people who gambled with our money.”