IRVINE

The Irvine Unified School District, which unwittingly took on the U.S. Navy this month, may be able to sublease the vacant El Toro Elementary School to a private group after all.

District officials had attempted to lease the defunct school site to Shepherd Academics Inc., a nonprofit organization that runs Oakridge School in Tustin. The plan would give the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Oakridge School, which is currently building a permanent site in Orange, a temporary home for its 200 students. The temporary El Toro lease could earn the Irvine district as much as $150,000 per year, funds desperately needed to fill a $4-million budget deficit.

District officials had allowed Oakridge administrators to set up shop at the site before seeking approval from the Navy, which still remains in charge of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

But despite the hiccup in relations, the Navy wants to solve the problem, Navy spokeswoman Jeannie Light said. “We’re going to try to work this out,” she said.