Laguna Schools Bounce Back

The past 12 months have been exceptionally trying for the Laguna Beach school district. Its remarkable comeback from the brink of financial disaster is a tribute to residents who recognized the importance of good schools to a community and were willing to pay the price.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District is one of the few that are financed by property taxes, rather than through state funding. As property tax revenues decreased in recent years, the district was hit hard.

The firestorms of 1993 that devastated the community also damaged schools, another financial blow. A year later came the Orange County bankruptcy; school districts, including Laguna Beach, had been required to invest in the county pool that lost $1.64 billion. The schools lost some of the money they had put in.

A lack of close financial monitoring harmed the district as well. What was later described as a $300,000 error in bookkeeping was not spotted; worse, it was carried over to a new budget and expanded. By the time the district learned how bad things were, it was facing a huge deficit.

Then parents and other residents swung into action.

A retired business consultant pitched in to audit the district’s financial records and help straighten them out. The money problems had led to the early retirement of the district superintendent, so a husband and wife volunteered their services in a months-long search for a new superintendent. Those sorts of volunteer efforts are valuable assets to any community.

Also impressive was the enthusiasm of a fund-raising group called SchoolPower spearheaded by parents. The organization beat down doors seeking contributions and last month announced that it would donate more than $250,000 to the school district. The money will preserve programs that had been jeopardized by a lack of funding.

The district is not out of the woods completely. It should take steps to restore salaries that were cut because of the crisis, including pay for teachers. But considering the bleak picture a year ago, the district has shown welcome resilience, offering lessons to other school districts buffeted by financial problems and wondering how to improve.