Reprieve for Irvine Schools

Irvine schools got a reprieve recently after the narrow defeat of a $95-per-parcel tax vote earlier this month. The pledge of nearly $3.9 million from the Irvine Co., the Donald Bren Foundation and Irvine Public Schools Foundation put off 120 teacher layoffs and painful cuts in arts, music and science programs.

That is good. At the same time, it is not entirely clear why this remedy was not proposed sooner. The effect of waiting until repeated efforts to pass a parcel tax had failed made it possible for critics to affirm what they said before: that things were not as dire as previously stated.

Now the district is really on the spot because it will be even more difficult to argue, should the need again arise, that the voters have to close the gap. The pledge presents a tough challenge to the district to address the financial problems for the long term. It also must tackle some of the divisions within the various constituencies.

The groups that came forward to maintain the high standards of the district have helped tide things over. But it is a narrow passageway to the future, buying time for a year. And no school system can rely permanently on the quick fix from benefactors.

It is important to remember too that the Irvine Co. is making a payment of nearly $2 million that it already had promised to the schools foundation as part of a $3-million pledge in 1998. This effectively accelerates the flow of money that would have come anyway. In the meantime, the district must find additional revenue. The district needs to get a fairer shake from Sacramento, and legislation pending in the Assembly would bring substantial new revenue to the district. Irvine had its funding formulas created in the 1970s and therefore, as one of the modern “edge cities,” is miscast as a small agricultural town.

Tax supporters and opponents alike can help raise money now. Business leaders who benefit from the school system also have an opportunity to give something back to the community.