School Trustees Ask to Spend Part of Budget Surplus

With a budget surplus reaching just over $6.4 million, school board members say they want to spend about $2 million on projects ranging from reducing classroom size to hiring new employees.

At the Santa Ana Unified School District board meeting Tuesday, trustees asked for a list of spending options by March after hearing a presentation on the budget.

“We’re still looking at a very substantial surplus here,” board member Robert W. Balen said.

Supt. Al Mijares added that having a large surplus is not good practice. “We should not be a bank,” he said. “We should not be holding money that could be used on student needs.”

Because the state recommends that districts the size of Santa Ana--those with more than 30,000 students--keep a 2% surplus, about $4.4 million should be left in reserves, said Robert W. Giritz, the school district’s controller.

The budget surplus resulted from a number of factors, including $3.9 million in projected settlement money from a California Teachers Assn. lawsuit filed against the state and more than $2.8 million in state funds because of increased attendance.