SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Trustees Outline Cuts, Call for Layoffs

The trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District have outlined $2.7 million in potential cuts to their 1995-96 budget, including layoffs of 24 reading aides to help bridge a budget shortfall.

The trustees on Monday made it clear that they do not want to eliminate busing or ask other employees to take a 1% pay cut to help bridge the anticipated $3.5-million gap for 1995-96. They are still studying ways to make another $800,000 in cuts.

Instead, the board gave its initial nod to cuts and fee increases that, if approved, would make up most of the shortfall in the $139-million spending plan.

Raising fees for bus rides and extracurricular activities would generate almost $1 million, officials said. The board also agreed to leave some positions unfilled, including three district management posts and an elementary music coordinator. Those moves would save about $300,000.

Other proposed savings would come from returning four district resource teachers to the classroom, laying off part of the district’s music program staff and reducing extracurricular offerings. The 24 reading aides would lose their jobs in the elimination of a reading program that some trustees called ineffective.

The board is scheduled to give final approval to the actions when it considers the 1995-96 budget at its May 22 meeting. The board already has raised fees for bus rides to and from school.

“It is the (county) bankruptcy that causes the immediate crisis,” Supt. James A. Fleming said.

Adding to the problem, however, is the fact that the district in the past four years has received scant state funding for employee cost-of-living increases, said Carleen Wing Chandler, assistant superintendent for business and fiscal services.

Chandler said she hopes that the proposed cuts will last only a year. But “some of the cuts may go into following years,” she said. “It’s hard to say.”