ESCONDIDO: Elementary district holds off on restoring cuts

Trustees say they are waiting on the state budget

By SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer | Thursday, July 17, 2008 7:10 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Escondido Union elementary school district trustees postponed discussion Wednesday night on what, if any, of the school programs and positions cut during budget discussions in the spring should be restored for fall.

District officials and board members have been hesitant to prioritize or reverse any of the more than $10.8 million in spending cuts that were finalized when the board adopted its $152.7 million budget in June because the state has not adopted its budget yet.

The 2008-09 fiscal year began July 1.

Trustees had been scheduled to broach the subject Wednesday night and rank more than $5.8 million in "unfunded budget priorities."

After a brief discussion, though, they decided against making either a list of priorities or an order of programs that could be restored until after the district gets word on how much money it will get in state funds, Superintendent Jennifer Walters said.

"It's kind of hard to identify priorities until we know what we are dealing with," Trustee Linda Woods said Thursday. "We might not be able to restore all that was lost in a category, but we might be able to improve services for kids from where they are now."

Among the district's "unfunded budget priorities" are proposals to drop kindergarten class sizes back to 20 students per teacher instead than the current 30-to-1 ratio, restore four assistant principal positions, add six middle school counselors to the district's five middle schools, and give each elementary school a full-time librarian.

District officials originally developed their multimillion-dollar budget reduction plan to cope with an estimated $14.4 million shortfall in state funds, based on proposed cuts to education outlined in the governor's January proposal.

Officials have since been told by state officials that the district could get about $2.2 million more in revenues than originally projected, reducing its expected shortfall from $14.4 million to $12.2 million.

Based on a projected $14.4 million shortfall, the district decided to eliminate 66 full-time teaching positions and 56 teaching positions for individuals who were working on one-year contracts; eight counselors; four assistant principals; and several dozen support staff job.

All of the assistant principals, five of the counselors and all but two of the full-time teachers have been rehired by the district to fill positions left vacant by resignations, retirements and leaves of absences, officials said.

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.