Computer Costs Total $400,000 for Schools

The Irvine Unified School District slashed $2.2 million from its budget in the aftermath of the Orange County bankruptcy, but school board members have now approved spending up to $400,000 on new computer software and hardware, saying the expense was regrettable but necessary.

“I would have given anything not to come before the school board at this time to ask for this kind of expenditure,” Assistant Supt. Dean Waldfogel said Thursday. “But we just had to do it.”

The cost will be spread out over three fiscal years.

The district’s budget cuts and layoff of administrative personnel triggered the need to replace 15-year-old computer software that was not keeping up with the growth and sophistication of the 21,700-student district.

District employees were increasingly doing work that the outdated computer system could not perform.

With $107 million on deposit in the county investment pool, the school district was forced by losses from the county bankruptcy to cut $2.2 million from this school year’s budget.

Ten district employees were laid off and about 25 were reassigned to lower-ranking jobs.

With fewer administrative employees, Waldfogel said the district will not be able to keep up with the more complex scheduling plans for schools and the demand for precise data on finance and demographics.

The computer scheduling system is expected to be in place for district high schools by next fall. Waldfogel said the entire system should be operating for the remaining schools within two years.

Said school board member Mike Regele: “It strikes me as one of those things we have to do.”