IRVINE : School District Mood Positive Despite Cuts

When the Irvine Unified School District’s new superintendent welcomed teachers back to school this week, the mood was upbeat despite the district’s heavy debt resulting from losses in Orange County’s collapsed investment pool.

“To the credit of educators, they always look at the positive side,” said Dennis Smith, former superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District who came to Irvine Unified in July. “They see the glass as half full.”

The night before the district’s annual back-to-school meeting Wednesday, school board members had approved a $105-million budget that includes plans to set aside $800,000 a year for the next decade to repair the financial damage wrought by the county’s December bankruptcy filing.

Irvine had $107 million in the failed county investment pool, more than any other school district. Of that total, $54.5 million had been borrowed specifically for investment in the ill-fated fund.

Despite $2.2 million in cuts this school year, officials said, most programs have been preserved, and early retirements have prevented teacher layoffs.

Officials said cutbacks will be felt most in the operations of administrators, support personnel and maintenance workers, and in salaries.

For the fourth consecutive year, teachers will get no pay increase.

“It’s been a pretty rough road,” school board President Tom Burnham said. “But we’re back to focusing on the kids instead of the bankruptcy.”