SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

School District Budget Would Cut Some Reading Aides

The Capistrano Unified School District board has tentatively approved a $136-million budget that includes $3 million in cuts and layoffs of two dozen elementary school reading aides.

Trustees voted unanimously Monday to move ahead with the 1995-96 spending plan, with final budget approval set for June 26.

School officials said they have not decided which reading aides will be laid off.

Austin Buffum, director of elementary school operations, said Tuesday that individual school administrators will be given the choice of how to change their reading programs because of the layoffs.

Each elementary school currently has two reading aides, one who works under a special program, Writing to Read, and another who uses other methods, Buffum said.

Buffum said the Writing to Read program has yielded good results at some schools but not all. He said trustees want to give principals and parents flexibility in selecting what works best for their school.

To help bridge an anticipated shortfall of $3 million because of the county bankruptcy, trustees have raised fees for student bus rides and extracurricular activities. The budget also leaves some positions unfilled, including three district management posts.

District spokeswoman Jacqueline Price said the district recently received a cost-of-living allocation from the state that was $800,000 higher than expected. Price said the funding increase was one bright spot.

When trustees last month discussed potential cuts, they were still $800,000 short of balancing the budget.

“They have tried to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,” Price said.