Schools Face Classified Staff Cuts

School officials have signaled their intentions to make deeper cuts in the classified employee staff, in the latest attempt to solve a burgeoning financial crisis before classes begin next week.

After a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Board President Jan Vickers announced that trustees had passed a resolution calling for more cuts in classified services but not specifying the number of jobs.

District officials and the teachers also are in the middle of difficult salary negotiations for the coming school year.

The staff cuts are the latest blows to the small school district, which is trying to weather a financial storm that began in February and intensified in recent weeks.

In February, officials announced that property tax revenue reductions caused by the devastating Laguna fires of 1993 and the county bankruptcy would force them to trim $1 million from the tentative budget for the 1996-97 school year.

After school officials, administrators and parents agonized over reducing programs, eliminating seven teaching positions and laying off 60 classified employees--mostly clerical workers and teachers’ aides--the district was hit by another startling discovery this month: Bookkeeping errors and unanticipated expenses had caused another $1-million deficit.

The news touched off an uproar in the community that lead to the firing on Aug. 12 of the district’s chief financial officer, Terry Bustillos, and the early retirement a day later of Supt. Paul M. Possemato.

Nancy Hubbell, the district’s special-services director, also has resigned, effective Sept. 3. None has yet been replaced.

Vickers said the district’s problems will not deter an orderly opening of classes on Sept. 5. The district’s immediate priority is to find a way to come up with a balanced budget, which she said will happen today.

New administrative hirings will be put off until after school is underway, she said.

“Right now we are just trying to focus on getting a balanced budget and starting school,” Vickers said. “We have a lot of parent volunteers. People are very willing to help, although that doesn’t make the employees who are being cut feel much better.”