IRVINE

Save Irvine’s outstanding school programs or live within your means.

Those were the two viewpoints given Irvine voters Wednesday as supporters and opponents of a parcel tax on Tuesday’s ballot sparred during a public forum at the Lakeview Senior Center.

Faced with a $4-million budget deficit, Irvine Unified School District trustees have said they will cut programs, increase class sizes and reduce nonteaching staff as well as teachers unless voters approve the flat $95 tax.

About 136 teachers are likely to receive pink slips in May, district officials said.

“You can’t take 10% of teachers out of the district and not cripple the district,” said Hugh Hewitt, co-chair of Save Our Schools, the group supporting the tax. “It can’t be done.”

Arguing against the tax, Bruce Peotter of Irvine Taxpayers for Better Education said he questioned whether that many teachers would really lose their jobs.

“It’s not a real crisis,” he said. “We should not have more taxes. We should have more accountability on how the money is spent.”

fat in the district was cut long ago.

“Do you think that the district is going to perform at the same level even at [Peotter’s] admitted cuts?” Hewitt asked. “It’s way too high a price to pay.”