Budget Cuts, Layoffs at Irvine Unified

* Re “Enhancing Our Schools,” March 19 editorial:

Thanks for writing what you did. I teach in Irvine, and your comments are appreciated.

Thanks, also, for the wonderful column by Daisy Yu.

JIM MAMER

Modjeska Canyon

* Shame on you for misrepresenting the facts.

The Irvine Unified School District has not “already cut $12 million,” despite this often repeated disinformation by school board member Mike Regele and attorney Hugh Hewitt.

In fact, the district’s budget has increased a great deal, from $78 million about 10 years ago to more than $130 million today.

Moreover, there is absolutely no correlation between spending and educational achievement, as The Times should both know and state.

JOHN JAEGER

Irvine

* Re the 182 Irvine teachers slated to be given layoff notices:

It’s interesting, to say the least, that during the past months we’ve heard plenty about the music and art classes that the Irvine Unified School District will need to cut from its programs, but we’ve heard nothing about administrative cuts.

For years teachers throughout the county have been in a siege mentality, where any district financial shortfall would take its toll on their classes. The money is allocated at the administrative level, and administrators are not about to cut their own jobs.

But the dollars they’re talking about are tax dollars for education, not for administration. The school district’s administration has one basic function: to implement the district’s educational programs.

The school board, instead of merely following the administration’s lead, needs to assess just where the money is being spent, keeping in mind that the classroom is far more vital to the community than administrative functions.

ALAN REMINGTON

Costa Mesa