IRVINE

Talk is cheap. And a group of Irvine parents is glad it is. With a measly $50 in the Save Our Schools campaign coffers, Irvine residents rallying for passage of a parcel tax on the April 11 ballot are measuring their success in people rather than dollars. “It’s a talking campaign,” said Hank Adler, who is helping organize the effort. “We don’t have a tremendous amount of money.” About 35 parents gathered at South Lake Middle School on Monday to brainstorm ways to spread word of the measure, which would impose a flat $95 parcel tax on property owners, with an exemption for senior citizens. The parcel tax would help fill a $4-million gap in the Irvine Unified School District’s $140-million budget. District trustees this week slashed $5 million in programs and jobs from their $140-million budget for the 2000-01 school year, saying they had no other choice. Irvine parents say they are committed to ensuring that the April election is not a repeat of November’s parcel tax measure, which failed to meet the mandatory two-thirds majority by about 4% of the vote. Those lobbying for the Save Our Schools campaign should hit the phones and streets full force in another month, Adler said. Meanwhile the group is designing a Web page, which should be up and running next week, to promote its cause.