Laguna Preparing Layoff Notices for Teachers

The Laguna Beach Unified School District plans to send layoff notices to teachers and possibly reduce or eliminate music, art and other programs to offset losses from declining property values, the Orange County bankruptcy and the 1993 firestorms, officials said Monday.

Calling the situation a “major fiscal crisis,” Superintendent Paul M. Possemato plans to announce the number of layoff notices at the school board meeting tonight and how that might affect class sizes. The layoffs and program cuts will take effect in September.

The layoff notices, based primarily on seniority, will be distributed by Friday. But those teachers won’t know for sure whether they will lose their jobs until next year’s budget is finalized, school officials said.

“At this point, it doesn’t look as though there’s anything we can do to avoid layoffs or program cuts,” Trustee Jan Vickers said. “The message we’ll be sending to the community is to come and talk to us and tell us what their priorities are. But the bad news is that things are going to have to go, and we’ll have to accept that and move on.”

Possemato said the district must take drastic measures to reduce its 1996-97 budget by about $1 million to offset various losses. The district’s total budget is $13.4 million.

“No one knew this was coming,” said Jeff Nelson, president of the district’s teachers union.

Possemato plans to meet with all district staff on Wednesday to update them on the district’s situation. Because staff reductions will be based on seniority, younger teachers and staff members are expected to bear the brunt of the layoffs. The district has about 120 certificated teachers and 2,400 students.

“In the past few years, we’ve gotten a lot of young teachers, which is wonderful because they bring energy and vitality to the school district,” Nelson said. “Right now, we’re inside a big crack and it’s tough to see out of it.”

The district is facing a severe budget shortfall for several reasons. For one thing, it expects to receive $500,000 less in property value revenue than it had anticipated.

Laguna Beach and the Newport-Mesa unified school districts are the only Orange County school districts that receive funding from property tax revenue rather than from state funds based on attendance.

The district also had to spend about $1 million to repair school property that was damaged in the 1993 Laguna fires. It also lost about $700,000 in the Orange County bankruptcy.

Because the district already has implemented transportation fees and cut $390,000 from its current budget to offset bankruptcy losses, school officials said they have no choice but to target staff members and programs.

Trustee Timothy D. Carlyle said he has been fielding calls since Thursday from parents and other community members who are worried about layoffs, larger class sizes and the potential loss of special programs, including music, language, and science and technology classes.

“These are all areas that are enrichment programs, and so they’re the ones that we have to look at most closely,” he said. “The impact will not be positive, but we don’t know to what extent they’ll be affected.”

Karen Vaughn, PTA president at El Morro Elementary School, called the news “pretty disastrous” and said people are stunned that they had no warning about the fiscal crisis. “I think they’re still in shock,” she said.

Despite the community’s concern, Jon Jenett, a parent who has been involved in fund-raising for the district, said he thinks people will rally around, just as they have during other crises.

“They’ve had a fire, they’ve had floods, they’ve had one of their schools wiped out [in the fire], and Orange County . . . has gone bankrupt,” Jenett said. “I think all of us are shocked, but we will support the district.”

Possemato said people must remember that Laguna Beach now has among the smallest class sizes in the county. The district also has extensive programs in music and art that many other districts have already slashed from their budgets.