Cuts Are Weighed at Irvine Schools

Irvine school board members debated late Tuesday whether to increase class sizes in primary grades and make the high-scoring district among the first in the state to walk away from a popular class-size reform program.

Board members said before the night was out they would make that painful choice or others to address a $5.2-million budget shortfall. Trustees were also considering trimming more than 20 programs, from school nurses to music and science classes.

If the board approves all the slated cuts, about 200 teachers, or more than 15%, could be laid off, said Anne Caenn, president of the Irvine teachers union.

The board also voted Tuesday, as expected, to close Los Naranjos Elementary School.

“We are writing a sad chapter in the history of this district,” said board President Steven Choi. “Not just in the district, but in the city.”

Caenn expressed sadness as well. “I don’t know if I could make these decisions,” she said. “Tonight, Irvine Unified School District will change our profile and join the ranks of the average.”

Many of the 200 parents who attended the meeting said they would not want to be in the trustees’ shoes, faced with tough decisions.

But others, like Vickie Lynn Bibro, castigated the board for cutting academics while retaining sports teams.

“I am appalled,” said Bibro, mother of several Irvine school district children. “You’re making the wrong choices. . . . It’s not right, and you know it.”

Many said, however, that they felt they had little choice but to abandon the smaller class sizes.

Though the state picks up much of the cost for the 6-year-old initiative, each year districts must pay a greater proportion for salaries and extra classrooms as new teachers climb the pay scale faster than state funding keeps up.

With the state facing budget cuts, Irvine is not the only school system having trouble paying for the popular but expensive program.

Until this year, nearly all of California’s 900 eligible school systems were part of the program, which caps class size at 20, down from more than 30, in most primary grades.